News

Berkeley High School came under a brief lockdown Wednesday morning when Berkeley police searched the campus for a 17-year-old high school junior who was arrested for robbing a sophomore.

A Berkeley woman called 911 around 9:42 a.m. to report a teenager wearing a black mask which covered the lower half of his face confronting another high school student at Civic Center Park, Berkeley Police Department (BPD) spokesperson Sgt. Mary Kusmiss told the Planet.

“She was concerned that a robbery was in progress,” Kusmiss said.

BPD officers—including officers from the nearby police headquarters on Martin Luther King Jr. Way—rushed to the park, located right across from Berkeley High, and found a 16-year-old Berkeley High sophomore, who said he had been threatened and robbed of his Creative Zen MP3 Player by another student named “Chris.”

“He also told the officers that the suspect had what appeared to be a semi-automatic pistol tucked into his waistband,” Kusmiss said, “and that as police were arriving, this high school-aged suspect ran southbound across Allston Way onto the Berkeley High campus. He appeared to be very scared.”

Berkeley police closed all the exits at the high school with the help of the school’s safety officers and placed the campus on lockdown.

Students were directed to remain in their classrooms and staff held off from ringing the bell between periods to keep the students from moving from one classroom to the other to ensure their safety, Kusmiss said.

District spokesperson Mark Coplan told the Planet that Wednesday had been the monthly “late start day,” on which school begins at 10 a.m. to accommodate staff meetings.

“Since there was a report of a weapon, the police requested a lockdown so they could search for the alleged weapon without interruption,” Coplan said.

A team of BPD officers searched the campus for the suspect, Kusmiss said, with the help of a description provided by the sophomore.

Safety officers checked their campus databases for information on “Chris” and at approximately 11 a.m.—an hour and 15 minutes after the incident—officers found the 11th-grader in Room 206, attending a class with other students.

“He was arrested without any further incident and booked at Juvenile Hall for robbery,” Kusmiss said.

BPD resource officers are following some student leads which indicate the suspect dumped the weapon in a garage bin on campus.

“They are still scouring the campus for a weapon,” she said, adding that the case would be reviewed by the BPD youth services detectives and the Alameda County District Attorney’s office, following which recommendations would be made for what action should be taken against the 11th-grader.

Kusmiss said the student had not said what his motive was for stealing the MP3 player, which costs approximately $100.

“Crimes involving youth off campus are more common than crimes involving school students themselves,” Kusmiss said.

“Detectives interviewed the suspect’s mother to find out more information about the student. Since he is a juvenile, and does not seem to have a prior criminal record, authorities will focus on rehabilitation, rather than incarceration.”

After much debate—and perhaps some backroom doings—the council voted 5-2 to comply with a court order to rescind an action it took in April 2006 regarding the use of “cultural space” at the building.

The basis for the dispute that has raged for at least five years was that the city gave the building’s developer, Patrick Kennedy, permission to add height to the Gaia Building above zoning limits in exchange for a promise to use the first two floors for cultural uses.

The questions that came before the council in April 2006 were: How much cultural space and how much time devoted to culture are needed to satisfy the requirement for cultural space, and what is the definition of culture?

The resolution that the council rescinded Tuesday had defined cultural space according to a 2003 letter by a former planning manager.

Berkeley resident Patti Dacey and her attorney Anna De Leon—owner of Anna's Jazz Island, located in the Gaia Building—sued the city in Alameda County Superior Court, alleging that the council had abused its discretion in defining the amount of time and space that was to be used for cultural activities instead of letting the Zoning Adjustment Board rule first on the question.

Siding with the plaintiff and De Leon, the court ordered the council to rescind their 2006 resolution.

While Acting City Attorney Zach Cowan, who had lost the case in court, argued that the resolution should be rescinded, he also said in a staff report that the council should instruct the zoning board on the interpretation of cultural space at the Gaia Building.

De Leon and Dacey were at the meeting and argued vehemently that doing so would be a continued abuse of council discretion and that the council role should be limited to doing what the judge had ordered: rescinding the original resolution.

Kennedy no longer owns the building, but manages cultural activities there as a leaseholder. He spoke to the council and hinted that he might sue the city if the council refused to communicate with the zoning board on the question of cultural uses at the building.

“It's imperative to include other information,” Kennedy said.

With Councilmember Linda Maio recusing herself because her husband rents retail space from Kennedy (although she voted on the original resolution) and Councilmember Laurie Capitelli absent, the council was unable to get five votes either for rescinding the resolution alone, without instructions to ZAB (the original vote to rescind had Councilmembers Darryl Moore, Max Anderson, Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington voting in favor; Councilmembers Betty Olds and Gordon Wozniak voting in opposition; and Mayor Tom Bates abstaining) or to postpone the question until the next meeting despite the judge’s order. (The vote to do that was Bates, Olds, Worthington and Wozniak in favor and Moore, Anderson and Spring abstaining.)

At that point in the meeting, with no decision made, Bates called for a break, saying he wanted to allow the captioner (captions are typed for deaf and hard of hearing persons) a break.

During the break, while some members of the public speculated that the council would continue to discuss the item when it returned, Councilmember Anderson was heard to say of his colleagues: “They’re more afraid of Kennedy than the judge.”

De Leon and Dacey both told the Planet they were incredulous that the council could ignore a judge's order and promised to be back in court soon.

As it turned out, that was not necessary. It appeared that some members of the council had caucused during the break and a vote was taken to take up the question again.

This time, the council voted 5-2 to rescind the April 2006 resolution, without giving any advice to the Zoning Adjustments Board. It would be up to the owner of the property to bring the issue back to the ZAB, councilmembers said.

Moore, Anderson, Spring, Worthington and Bates voted in favor of the motion to rescind the resolution; Olds and Wozniak abstained.

The District Attorney’s office charged Berkeley City College student Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield, 20, with murder in the stabbing death of UC Berkeley engineering student Chris Wootton this afternoon (Tuesday).

Hoeft-Edenfield was arrested and booked at the Berkeley City Jail on one count of murder within 12 hours of the Saturday morning incident.

Dressed in yellow jail clothes and sporting a crew-cut, Hoeft-Edenfield appeared in Alameda County Superior Court briefly today (Tuesday) and will return to court on Thursday to be assigned an attorney and possibly enter a plea.

“We got the news at 2 p.m. that the DA’s office had reviewed his case and has decided to charge him with murder,” Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Mary Kusmiss told the Planet.

Wootton was stabbed once in the upper left portion of his chest, between his ribs, in front of a group of students in the rear parking lot of the Chi Omega sorority house on Piedmont Avenue.

When Berkeley police officers arrived at the scene after receiving a 911 call about a young man brandishing a knife around 2:45 a.m., they were directed to the Sigma Pi residence on Warring Street, where they found about 20 students standing around Wootton, who was bleeding. He died on the way to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley.

Kusmiss said Wootton’s condition had been extremely critical and that he had no pulse when paramedics arrived at the scene.

Calls to Hoeft-Edenfield’s mother Ellen, who lives with him in Berkeley, were not returned. She told reporters outside court, “We do feel this case is a tragedy. We do grieve for the Wootton family and I’m so sorry.”

San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Rebecca Young, who accompanied Hoeft-Edenfield’s mother and said she’s a family friend, said Hoeft-Edenfield “is not someone who glorifies violence or tries to lord it over someone.”

Young said Hoeft-Edenfield “is a decent, sweet kid who was pulling his life together and had a girlfriend and was saving his money for college,” and she said, “I’ve known Andrew since he was 6-years-old and he hasn’t been in trouble before and this is a shock.”

Young, who said her son grew up with Hoeft-Edenfield in Oakland and Berkeley, said Hoeft-Edenfield “was goofy and liked to be the class clown and was fun-loving and respectful.”

A transfer student from Alameda, Hoeft-Edenfield graduated from Berkeley High School in 2006. Berkeley Unified School District officials were unable to provide any information about him.

A Jan. 17, 2006 story in the Planet quotes Hoeft-Edenfield as supporting Berkeley High’s on-site suspension plan, in which students were to serve suspensions at school rather than being sent home. He told the Planet at the time that that he had not gotten into any fights since his transfer to the school.

Berkeley Unified volunteer Yolanda Huang, who wrote the story, said she didn’t want to comment on Hoeft-Edenfield.

“I don’t think Andrew should talk to the press either,” she said. “His lawyer will do all the talking.”

Police reports indicate that a verbal exchange between local students and some other people escalated into a physical fight which ultimately led to the stabbing. The report did not rule out the role of alcohol in the fight.

Eyewitness testimony, local authorities said, played an important role in finding and arresting Hoeft-Edenfield.

Kusmiss said three UC Berkeley students—one girl and two boys—came forward with statements, which included a first name, and a physical description which helped officers to create a photo line-up.

Officers were able to track him down at a friend’s house in Oakland, where he was staying overnight.

According to Kusmiss, Hoeft-Edenfield volunteered to come down to the police department and provided details of the incident—including his involvement in the crime—to the police after the arrest.

“During the course of the conversation he progressively became more comfortable and confessed that he was the young man who had the knife,” she said.

Kusmiss said a verbal exchange between the suspect and a friend and some other guys—reportedly fraternity brothers—about pride and some form of disrespect had quickly evolved into a full scale physical fight involving 20 young men, during which Hoeft-Edenfield, who still had the knife, stabbed Wootton.

“During the interview he told detectives that he felt the knife connect with something but didn’t know he had stabbed someone until he was fleeing the area and saw there was blood on his hand and knife,” Kusmiss said. “The detectives eventually told him that Wootton had died from the stab.”

The suspect is alleged to have fled westbound on Channing Way. Officers discovered a bloody folding, buck-style knife on a sidewalk on Piedmont Avenue on Saturday morning during their investigations, according to Kusmiss.

A memorial service will be held at the UC Berkeley Sproul Plaza by Wootton’s Sigma Pi fraternity brothers at 5 p.m. today.

Anger over the brazen Friday night shooting in a troubled Berkeley neighborhood has renewed calls for a greater police presence and pitted neighbor against neighbor.

While the news media focused on murder and a hostage standoff in the affluent Berkeley Hills, some folks who live near the intersection of Sacramento and Oregon streets wonder why they can’t get more attention from City Hall and police headquarters.

A dispute that erupted on the street about 9:45 p.m. Friday ended up at Bob’s Liquors, where a 16-year-old was shot three times, said one neighbor who declined to be identified by name.

He said he had not been questioned by police.

Ayodele Nzinga, the mother of two boys who were the targets of the attack, said police have refused to return her calls.

Getting on-the-record comments has proven difficult, with many neighbors refusing to be quoted by name for fear of possible reprisals.

The youths who were attacked were members of a local hip-hop group, and Ayodele said both had prior run-ins with police—which she said had resulted from growing up in public housing in a neighborhood with many ex-felons.

Another neighbor, Daniel Miller who works at Spiral Gardens on Sacramento just across Oregon from the shooting scene, said he didn’t see the shooting itself, but came outside moments later.

“Apparently there was an altercation outside,” and a young man ran inside the store, where he was shot, Miller said.

Miller described the injured youth as “a very upstanding fellow” who “seemed like he was putting his life together. He’s been through a lot, but mostly he acted in a pretty noble manner and with a lot of character.”

But some other neighbors said the youth and his brother had been involved in neighborhood altercations and that at least one had been arrested as the result of a violent incident involving another youth.

“They’ve had problems,” Nzinga said. “But we live in South Berkeley.”

She said the incident began when the two youths,ages 18 and 16, stopped by the store. The 18-year-old went in to buy gum, and when he was leaving “he was accosted by two armed gunmen who pistol-whipped him.”

The youth fled into the store, and ran to the back, calling out for his younger brother. When the boy entered the store, he was shot three times, once in the stomach and twice in the sides, she said. One slug bruised his aorta and missed his heart by a quarter-inch.

Nzinga said she had repeatedly called Berkeley police in hopes of arranging protection for her sons, “but they never call me back.”

Oakland police did call, she said, and interviewed her because of similarities to another incident in that city.

The surrounding neighborhood has seen a relatively high rate of violence and property crimes over the last six months, according to Berkeley police figures gleaned from the department’s Community Crime View web site. [www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=7060]

Over the past six months, prior to Friday night’s incident the area within a thousand feet of the intersection has seen three assaults with a deadly weapon, four robberies, a carjacking, ten residential burglaries, three commercial burglaries, eight drug arrests, a dozen car thefts and 41 loud reports—which most typically are calls reporting gunshots.

“There’s a lot of crime here,” said neighborhood merchant. “We’ve been trying to get a meeting with the city manager and chief of police but so far nothing’s happened.”

One merchant said that for a time police had bicycle patrols in Beats 12 and 13, which fall on either side of Sacramento Street. “It works a lot better when the officers know the neighbors,” he said.

Miller acknowledged that violence isn’t unusual in the neighborhood. “There’s at least one shooting every six months,” he said. But he said police typically respond too heavily, and he charged that officers frequently force young men to lie down while they hold “exotic weapons” on them.

But “after they find a couple of dime bags and make some arrests, then there’s no longer any police presence,” he said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents picked up a Berkeley family around 9:30 a.m. today (Tuesday), during what immigration authorities called routine targeted enforcement action, and took all four family members to the Office of Detention and Removal Operations in San Francisco for questioning.

The incident sparked protest among local immigrant groups and advocates and prompted the Berkeley Unified School District to send out a telephone message advising parents not to panic, after rumors started circulating that ICE agents were rounding up students in Berkeley and Oakland schools.

“It has come to our attention that the Immigration Department has picked up at least one Latino family," the recorded telephone message from district Superintendent Bill Huyett said. "As a result several parents have called concerned about their children being picked up by the immigration department. I can assure you that the school district will not allow any child to be taken away from the school. If you are concerned about your child walking home from school, please call the school and notify staff that either you or someone else is going to pick them up. If your child takes the bus home you may wish to meet them at their regular bus stop. The Berkeley school district will work with you to keep your children as safe as possible.”

Huyett also instructed families to call 644-6504 with any questions.

Several calls to the Planet Tuesday afternoon reported that ICE agents had been spotted on the Berkeley High School campus and at some elementary schools which provide bilingual instruction to students.

District spokesperson Mark Coplan told the Planet that ICE agents had not been on the high school grounds but had been seen around campus.

“We got a call from the Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action (BOCA) this morning telling us that one family had been arrested in Berkeley by ICE and there was a possibility of the team coming into the Berkeley schools to look for students,” he said. “So the superintendent wanted to alert the schools. We contacted all the principals and told them not to allow any federal officer access into the schools but to alert the superintendent first. However, nobody showed up.”

ICE spokesperson Virginia Kice told the Planet the agency team had not visited any schools.

“ICE agents are aware of the sensitivity connected with conducting searches at schools, churches and mosques,” she said. “It requires clearance at a very high level.”

Immigration rights attorney Mark Silverman—who represents the family being detained—said ICE agents had stopped a woman who was driving her husband to the BART station and asked to see their license.

“The couple didn’t have it so the officers took them back home and asked them if they had immigration status,” Silverman said in a phone interview to the Planet. “When they said no, the officers asked their daughter and her cousin, who had come over with some food. None of them were able to provide any documentation and were taken to the detention center. My big question was why they were stopped. As far as I know they did not commit any traffic violation. If that’s true then it was a violation of their 4th amendment rights, which gives us the means to fight against their deportation.”

Kice said the individuals had been arrested at their home

“Typically we endeavor to arrest individuals at residences,” she said. “In that way, we can ensure the safety of our officers and reduce third party involvement. We don’t usually do traffic stops but I will check on that.”

Silverman said the family members would be fingerprinted for prior criminal records, and if found innocent would be released.

The family will have to appear at an immigration court hearing at a later date.

“From what the couple told me, the officers did ask them if they knew such and such person,” Silverman said.

Kice said members of ICE’s Fugitive Operations team—responsible for identifying, locating and arresting individuals who have been ordered deported by an immigration judge and have ignored orders—had a warrant for a local’s arrest when they encountered the family of four. She said the family was from Mexico.

BOCA Director Andy McCombs criticized the incident.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “ICE is putting fear into the whole Latino community.They did not have any arrest warrants or anything.”

The team also arrested one immigration fugitive in Oakland, taking the total number of arrests from the Bay Area up to five, according to Kice.

“The arrest of the family was not in any way related to last week’s enforcement on restaurants,” she said, referring to the raid on 11 taquerias in the Bay Area on Friday.

There are five Fugitive Operations Teams in California, including two in the Bay Area. Kice said that the team had arrested 846 people between Oct. 1 and Feb. 15, of whom 612 had outstanding orders for deportation and 152 had prior criminal records in addition to having ignored deportation orders.

A resolution passed by the Berkeley City Council directs the Berkeley Police Department not to participate or collaborate with ICE.

‘We cannot impede them, block them or stop them, but we don’t have to participate,” said Julie Sinai, chief of staff to Mayor Tom Bates .

BOCA lead organizer Belen Pulido, who went over to the family’s house while they were being questioned, said the team had stayed at the house for almost 40 minutes.

“I asked them why they were taking the family, and the officers said they didn’t have their immigration papers,” she said. “I am concerned about the father, he is old and the ICE agents separated him from the women.”

Silverman said the family seemed to be in good condition at the detention center.

“Today’s arrests are the first in a while,” Silverman told the Planet.

“There was similar activity in the start of 2007 in Alameda and Contra Costa County but I haven’t seen anything like this in six to seven months.”

Rep. John Conyers, chair of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, didn’t mince words in a recent letter to the Drug Enforcement Agency administration asking for a response to allegations that the agency has stepped up raids on dispensaries of medical marijuana.

He wrote the “DEA has dramatically intensified the frequency of paramilitary-style enforcement raids against individuals qualified to use medical cannabis under state law, their caregivers, and the dispensing collectives established to provide a safe place to access medical cannabis.”

Conyers’ April 29 letter responded to calls from the mayors and city councils of San Francisco and Oakland, calling for oversight hearings in the judiciary committee regarded DEA tactics.

[See full letter at http://www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/ConyersLetter]

According to Becky DeKeuster, Berkeley Patients Group Community Liaison, this letter is a preliminary step toward the committee’s holding full oversight hearings.

While Conyers’ letter to Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart did not reference Berkeley, Mayor Tom Bates had added Berkeley’s voice to the call for oversight hearings into DEA tactics used against medical marijuana dispensaries.

“We urgently need help from our congressional leaders to stem this federal interference in state health care law,” Bates wrote Conyers on April 24.

Although California voters approved the Medical Use of Marijuana Initiative (Proposition 215) in 1996 by 56 percent—86 percent of Berkeley voters said “yes”—the DEA continues to undermine state and local laws protecting medical marijuana dispensaries, DeKeuster told the Planet last week.

In July, the California Patients’ Group in West Hollywood, described by DeKeuster as a “sister” group to the Berkeley Patients’ Group, was raided by the DEA. “The facility was forced to close,” she said.

A few days later in Berkeley, the DEA, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Police Department, froze the $4,500 in the BPG’s bank account and the next day seized the funds. [http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2007-08-03/article/27668]

The assets have not been returned, DeKeuster said.

A growing problem for medical marijuana dispensaries across the state is that the DEA is pressuring landlords not to rent to medical marijuana distributors, although this has not been the case with the BPG. “It doesn’t matter how upstanding the dispensary is,” DeKeuster told the Planet. “Property owners are scared.”

Conyers referenced this problem in his letter to the DEA: “It has also come to my attention that DEA has sent hundreds of letters to property owners who lease property to medical cannabis dispensaries, threatening them with arrest and forfeiture of their property.”

In Bates’ letter to Conyers, he described the Berkeley dispensaries: “Our three dispensaries have each been in operation for nearly a decade now, providing vital medicine and other wellness services to qualified patients. They are regulated, tax-paying members of our community, maintain clean, safe properties and play an active role in Berkeley’s civic life.”

On Jan. 29, the Berkeley City Council unanimously approved a resolution authored by Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Darryl Moore “opposing the attempts by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to close medical marijuana dispensaries and declaring the City of Berkeley as a sanctuary for medicinal cannabis use, cultivation, and distribution.”

The resolution asked the Berkeley Police Department not to cooperate with DEA investigations or raids of medical marijuana patients, caregivers and dispensaries. [Item 27: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=9868]

To resolve issues between the DEA and local jurisdictions, Conyers’ letter to the DEA suggests “the creation of an intergovernmental commission comprised of law enforcement, law makers and people affected by the laws, to review policy and provide recommendations that aim to bring harmony to federal and state laws."

A 60-year-old Vietnam veteran is facing felony death threat and misdemeanor domestic violence charges for allegedly striking and threatening to kill his girlfriend and then barricading himself inside his house for nearly nine hours, Berkeley police said today (Tuesday).

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said the man was taken to the John George Psychiatric Pavilion in San Leandro to be evaluated after peacefully surrendering to officers when he came out of his house in the 1200 block of Queens Road about 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

Kusmiss said the incident began about 2:40 p.m. Sunday when a 68-year-old woman who has lived with the man for about 15 years called police and said he had grabbed her, shoved her and threatened to kill her.

She said the woman fled the home screaming and told officers that he had guns, had a history of psychiatric problems and was threatening to kill himself. Kusmiss said a large group of officers came to the scene to contain the neighborhood and evacuated about 10 homes near the man’s house, which is near the intersection of Queens and Shasta roads and is several blocks below Grizzly Peak Boulevard and the Shasta Road entrance to Tilden Park.

Kusmiss said a patrol sergeant reached the man by phone and the man was close to coming out several times but continued to stay inside his house.

She said a SWAT team was sent to the house about 5 p.m. Sunday. Kusmiss said that at 11:30 p.m. Sunday the man finally came out unarmed, and officers startled him by firing a flash bang device near him as a diversionary tactic and took him away.

She said that when officers went inside the man’s home they fund four loaded guns as well as two drums of jet fuel.

Kusmiss said it wasn’t illegal for the man to possess the jet fuel but the fuel had the potential to blow up his house.

Kusmiss said the woman had no visible injuries, which is why the domestic violence charge is only a misdemeanor.

She said authorities won’t release the man’s name or formally file charges against him until after he’s released from John George.

Four years after Berkeley residents voted overwhelmingly for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), the City Council will vote tomorrow (Tuesday) on whether to implement the new voting process for the mayoral and council district elections in November.

Even if the council votes to implement IRV—a system that allows voters to rank candidate choices and eliminates runoffs—the process may be put off due to a delay in federal and state government software certification.

Also on the Tuesday agenda, the council will consider a resolution opposing the use of chemical agents to eradicate the Light Brown Apple Moth, tax measures on the November ballot and remanding the question of arts space use at the Gaia Building to the zoning board.

Before the regular meeting, the council will hold a workshop on the city budget, the second year of the 2007-2009 budget.

Implementing instant runoff voting

Green Party activist Jesse Townley, a Berkeley resident, has been involved for years in the push for IRV.

“I’m glad they’re finally putting it in,” Townley told the Planet on Monday. “It’s shameful that they have been flouting the will of the voters.”

Seventy-two percent of those voting in a 2004 Berkeley election were in favor of the Charter Amendment for IRV. Alameda County now has the technology to implement the voting system.

Even if the council votes Tuesday to implement the voters’ will, however, voting in November by IRV could hinge on federal certification, according to the city clerk. The city had expected certification by the federal Election Assistance Commission—with state certification to follow—would have been in place by March or April. That has not happened.

Asked for the reason for the delay, Guy Ashley, spokesperson for Alameda County Registrar of Voters said he didn’t know, but that County Registrar Dave MacDonald was meeting with Sequoia Voting Systems personnel on Friday to find out. “We’re sort of out of the loop,” he said, explaining that now the question is between Sequoia and the federal government.

Bryan Whitener of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission e-mailed the Planet Monday, explaining the delay: Sequoia Voting Systems chose iBeta Quality Assurance laboratory to test the system and submitted its application to iBeta Aug. 9, 2007. "To date, EAC has not received a test plan from iBeta," he wrote. "Once we receive and approve a test plan from iBeta, our first priority will be to conduct a thorough review."

Some of the factors outside the EAC's control are the workload of the testing system labs, how ready and mature the manufacturer's product is, how complete the manufactures documentation is, and how quickly the manufacturer responds to and corrects anomalies found in testing, Whitener wrote.

"The date for completion will depend on iBeta and the manufacturer giving us all of the information we need to evaluate and approve the test plan."

The clerk's report says that in order for the city to implement IRV in November, it would be necessary for both the federal government, and the state government, to have the system certified by July 14, the filing date for the local November election.

Councilmember Kriss Worthington told the Planet Monday, however, that he will ask the council to be more flexible, allowing more time for certification, if necessary.

IRV implementation has been predicated on overcoming technical hurdles and the ability of the city and county to continue consolidated elections. The charter amendment also requires that IRV not increase the city’s election costs.

The council will be asked Tuesday to certify the fact that the three requirements have been satisfied.

The clerk’s report says the county has certified Sequoia Voting Systems software and has the equipment on which to use it.

The report also says the county is able to hold consolidated elections with Berkeley using IRV.

The clerk’s report further states that using IRV will not increase Berkeley’s election costs, due to savings from the elimination of the need to hold runoff elections:

“Including the fixed one-time costs, the IRV-specific costs over the first three elections ranges from $145,000 to $234,000, which still compares favorably with a total budgeted runoff allocation of $780,000 over the same three elections,” the report says.

For recent Planet stories on IRV, see:

www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-01-22/article/28985

www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2007-01-30/article/26209

Ballot measures

Deciding which measures to place before the voters in November will be before the council again tomorrow.

Some tax measures come back to voters for renewal to voters every four years. The council will vote on whether to place these measures before the voters, including taxes for libraries, parks, emergency medical services and emergency services for disabled persons.

They will also address looking at a fire and preparedness tax ($90 per year to the average homeowner with a home assessed at $330,500), a library seismic safety bond ($33 per year cost to the average homeowner), and a bond for a therapeutic warm water pool ($28 per year to the average homeowner.)

Among the other issues before the council are:

• A request, authored by Councilmember Betty Olds to UC Regents to extend the environmental impact report review for 30 days on the Helios and Computational Research and Theory Buildings proposed for the upper Strawberry Creek watershed on the Berkeley campus.

“Citizens are becoming more aware of these proposed projects and are increasingly alarmed about the scale of the proposed development and its impacts on Strawberry Canyon,” says the report submitted to the council by Olds.

• A resolution proposed by Councilmember Linda Maio, opposing the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s attempts to “eradicate” the light brown apple moth by chemical means. “It has not yet been demonstrated chemical methods such as those proposed will eradicate the apple moth,” the resolution says.

The council previously voted to oppose the CDFA’s intention to spray the Bay Area for the LBAM and to explore legal action to stop the spray.

• A resolution referring back to the zoning board the question of defining the uses for arts space at the Gaia Building. The building developer was allowed to build higher than zoning would normally permit, after promising to use a certain amount of space for arts activities. The question of how much time and space should be devoted to this was resolved by the council, but challenged in court by attorney Anna De Leon, whose jazz club is in the Gaia Building. De Leon won the case in Superior Court.

The resolution before the council tomorrow is a result of the court case in which the court decided that the City Council “abused your discretion by having passed [a resolution and] violated the statutory procedure of the Berkeley Zoning Ordinance....”

(12) Use of instant runoff voting in lieu of runoff elections.

For purposes of this charter “instant runoff voting” shall refer to a voting system which, in a single election, determines the candidate supported by the voters. Notwithstanding any section of this Charter to the contrary, upon a determination by the City Council of all of the following, that: a) the voting equipment and procedures are technically ready to handle instant runoff voting in municipal elections; b) instant runoff voting will not preclude the City from consolidating its municipal elections with the County; and c) instant runoff elections will not result in additional City election costs, the Council may by ordinance establish a system of instant runoff voting for the offices of Mayor, City Council, and Auditor in any manner permitted by the State of California Elections Code. Once the Council institutes a system of instant runoff voting, future elections shall be conducted as instant runoff voting elections, unless the Council finds that circumstances have changed such that one or more of the prior Council findings required by this section are no longer valid. In such case, the Council shall articulate the specific basis therefore in order to suspend an existing system of instant runoff voting. The fourteenth paragraph of Section 9 of Article V relating to the percentage threshold to trigger a runoff election shall have no application to a system of instant runoff voting. The City Clerk shall conduct voter and community education to familiarize voters with instant runoff voting.

Wootton, 21, was stabbed once in the upper left portion of his chest, between his ribs, in front of a group of students in the rear parking lot of the Chi Omega sorority house at 2421 Piedmont Ave early Saturday morning.

Officers from the Berkeley Police Department (BPD) arrived at the site around 2:45 a.m. after receiving a report of someone brandishing a knife and were then directed to 2434 Warring St., where they found a group of college students circling around a man suffering a stab wound to his upper torso.

Homicide detectives interviewed three witnesses, whose testimony helped track down Hoeft-Edenfield, a Berkeley High School graduate, in Oakland. He was booked into the Berkeley City Jail and charged with one count of murder.

According to police reports, Hoeft-Edenfield shared details of the incident -- including his involvement in the crime – with the police after the arrest. He is not affiliated with UC Berkeley, the report states.

In a message to the community on the university's website, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau said Wootton, a senior in engineering, would have graduated this month.

Wootton’s MySpace profile reveals that he was from Bellflower, Los Angelos County, and that he graduated from Mayfair High School in 2004. His last login on May 1, 2008, describes his mood as “tired.”

UC Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Officer Mitch Celaya told the Planet that campus police had beefed up security around the fraternities and sororities.

“Other than that we are not bringing in other people,” he said. “It’s very unfortunate. I understand it happened in accordance to some parties that were going on in the frats. We are going to assist the Berkeley Police Department in their investigation as well as in creating a higher police visibility on campus.”

According to police reports, a verbal exchange between local students and some other people escalated into a physical fight which ultimately led to the stabbing. Police are not ruling out the role of alcohol in the fight. After stabbing Wooton, Hoeft-Edenfield fled westbound on Channing Way.

The police reported that Hoeft-Edenfield stabbed Wooton with a folding, buck-style knife which he flung onto the sidewalk on Piedmont.

Officers discovered the bloody knife Saturday morning during their investigations. Berkeley Fire Department Assistant Chief Gil Dong told the Planet the fire department had responded to a phone call reporting a stabbing in the parking lot of the Chi Omega sorority house.

Dong said the first fire department vehicle to arrive at the crime scene was the Paramedic Unit.

“When they were brought into the scene they found a male who looked like he had suffered from stabbing,” he said.

Paramedics transported Wootton to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley where he was pronounced dead.

Shocked fraternity and sorority members were seen crying and comforting each other around the campus today, placing flowers, candles and scribbling messages in memory of Wootton, a Sigma Pi member.

"This futile and senseless killing is a loss felt by us all, including his teachers, friends, and especially his fraternity brothers at Sigma Pi, where Christopher served both as vice president (2006-07) and pledge educator (2007-08),” Birgeneau's statement said. "… As we enter an already stressful time of year with classes ending, exams approaching, and projects needing to be completed, I hope that you will look after yourself and reach out to your friends and classmates. It is natural and understandable to be deeply shaken when tragedy strikes and when stressful situations occur. Please do not hesitate to make use of the resources we have available for helping to deal with difficult times."

The message lists several resources for those immediately affected by the incident, including University Health Services at the Tang Center and Counseling and Psychological Services at 642-9494.

Faculty and staff were directed to CARE Services at 643-7754.

Campus spokesperson Marie Felde said Wootton's family had been notified and his father, who is from Southern California, is en route to Berkeley.

“Incidents such as this are not common at all, in fact it’s very, very rare,” Celaya said.

The last murder of a UC Berkeley student was in 1998, when 20-year-old Kenneth Ishida, a Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity member, was carjacked and kidnapped from the garage of his apartment building.

The suspects shot and killed Ishida and dumped his body and his car.

Pictures of Wootton with his fraternity brothers show the nuclear engineering major as a fun-loving person who loved his family, friends and Jesus Christ. “I am a devoted Sigma Pi for life,” a blurb on his Stars and Striped MySpace page says.

“I am graduating this upcoming May and probably going to Graduate School to pursue a Master or Doctorate in Nuclear Engineering, or just work in the industry … or who knows? … I can’t rock out enough and I’m a die-hard Dodger fan. I’m easy going and enjoy reuniting with old friends so please say hello.”

In one of his blogs dated April 16, 2006, Wootton recounts being involved in a fight to stand up for one of his fraternity brothers.

“You probably know me pretty well if you're reading this and the word fight is most likely a shock to you coming from my weekend story but.... it has happened,” he wrote.

The cause behind Saturday’s argument, which caused Wootton’s slaying in front of at least 20 people, remained unclear as of Saturday night.

Berkeley police are investigating witnesses who have come forward, and will execute a search warrant for potential items of evidentiary value. Any information about the incident should be directed to the BPD Homicide Detail at 981-5741.

As news of Wootton’s tragic death spread across the campus, friends and family members posted messages on his web page, which opens to the song “Naïve” by The Kooks.

“You were always a true gentleman. Cal will always miss you,” wrote Susie.

“Chris why?” asked another friend. “God only takes the best first … you are going to be everyone’s guardian angel.”

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) made minor changes in its plans for its planned biofuel lab, but rejected any move to another site, according to a recently released environmental review.

A group of environmentalists and preservationists has called for either rejection or redrafting of the environmental impact reports (EIRs) of the Helios Building, and the city councils of both Berkeley and Richmond have resolutions on their agendas for their Tuesday night meetings.

In Richmond, Vice Mayor John E. Marquez and councilmembers Nathaniel Bates and Maria T. Viramontes have sponsored a resolution calling on the UC Board of Regents to deny certification of the EIRs for both the Helios Building and for the Computational Research and Theory Facility, two high tech structures planned at either end of the lab’s campus on the slopes above the city and university campus.

Instead, the Richmond resolution urges, the university should consider relocating the buildings to UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station, which had also been proposed by the university as the site of a corporate/academic research park until soil cleanup problems put the project on hold.

The same night Richmond councilmembers are consider their resolution, their counterparts in Berkeley will take up a proposal by Councilmember Betty Olds to oppose certification of both EIRs unless the university allows another 30 days for public and official review of the final documents.

Bloomington, Indiana, a Friday night in April, there’s a rally downtown to open the new Barack Obama campaign center. About 50 or so people are milling about the small room, holding plates of food in one hand and shaking strangers’ hands with the other. For the first time in 40 years, a Democratic candidate has a reason to open a campaign office in Indiana.

Now that results from Pennsylvania are in, the state of Indiana may be the tie-breaker, holding the deciding votes that may choose the next Democratic nominee.

The effect on the state party has been profound. Suddenly awakened, the state Democratic Party is witnessing action among its ranks of a type not seen since 1968 when Robert F. Kennedy challenged Eugene McCarthy for frontrunner status and made Indiana the jumping off point of his presidential bid.

New voter registration is up exponentially this year with 150,000 adding their names to the rolls of over 5 million voters this year. People are lining up to volunteer for their preferred candidate’s campaign, and contributions to the state Democratic Party have totaled $1.6 million this year. Republicans pulled in $1.3 million in comparison, a difference that could prove portentous come general election time.

In fact at Friday’s Obama rally, State Representative Matt Pierce (D—district 61) remarked on his observation that people are “coming out of the woodwork” to help out.

“The most exciting thing is that there are a lot of people here that I don’ t know,” he said. “It’ s usually just the party stalwarts, but now particularly, young people are making a difference.”

Will the excitement have lasting effects on the Democratic Party in Indiana? Pierce said that “remains to be seen, but it’s a big opportunity to create a new generation of activists. A lot of that has to do with the outcome this fall. If [Obama wins], people will see that their individual efforts paid off and they’ ll be coming back in future campaigns,” he said.

Already the presidential campaign seems to have affected the party. The promise of greater turnout has contributed to more longshot candidates entering the arena in the hopes of capitalizing on the grassroots nature of the revitalization. There will be people coming out to vote, many for the first time, who have felt that their issues never had a chance of being voiced. Now there are people lining up to represent them that want to carry these unheard concerns into the legislatures.

Gretchen Clearwater is running as a Democrat against incumbent Baron Hill (D—Indiana) in the 9th Congressional District race and says she has high hopes that the expected record turnout will ultimately benefit first-time candidates like herself, but that she’s felt some antipathy from state party leaders in regards to her candidacy. She cites the fact that the state party has refused to list on its website four candidates running in her district as Democrats.

“The state party has deemed them irrelevant,” she says. “There is no opportunity for voters to choose representation. To not give the voter the opportunity to see who I am is not democracy.”

Clearwater says that when she announced her candidacy, she received a call from someone in the state office (she refused to say who) who tried to persuade her not to run and to back Baron Hill instead. She said the voice on the other end told her that the state party bosses were afraid when she got to Washington, she wouldn’ t vote the way they told her to.

“When someone like me runs, it throws a cog in the works,” she says.

Matthew Colglazier, a Democratic candidate running for state Senate in district 44 in Southern Indiana, believes the expected increased turnout can only help challengers like him.

“Major things can happen in a 24-hour news cycle,” he says. “Voter registrations being up definitely benefits my campaign, it’s fortuitous for a guy like me.”

“People feeling empowered is always a good thing, and this election can help do that. I’m personally excited about it,” he says.

For the last 40 years, candidates like Clearwater and Colglazier would probably have looked at the Democratic turnouts in the state and decided there was no way an unknown, first-timer would have had the support to unseat an incumbent, especially in their own party. But record voter registrations and the promise of record turnouts (the state party projects somewhere in the range of 900,000 Democrats) may play the wildcard in the turnover rate.

State party chair and superdelegate Dan Parker predicts that the increased turnout will ultimately benefit the incumbents. He also agrees that the prospect of the Democrats holding sway in a presidential election for the first time in 40 years can only be good for the party, with lasting effects.

“We’re going to have record turnout, record organizing (thousands of identified volunteers, phone calls, canvassing, candidate IDs) and record dollars spent on television,” he said. “In the past we’ve never had spending by the candidates in Indiana. Therefore our state was not even contested. With the issue environment, Indiana should be competitive and I think the primary will help build that foundation.”

The feeling from party chairs, volunteer coordinators, staff, and the volunteers themselves has been one of optimism and excitement that their party matters again. They never expected it to come to this point, a sentiment reflected in a statement made by Tim Granholm, the coordinator of the local chapter of Students for Barack Obama the night of the Obama rally.

“We never thought it would come to IU,” Granholm said. “We’ re pretty excited to be a part of it. Students have always been supportive, but now people are coming to us wanting to know what they can do to help.”

That’ s what Representative Pierce meant when he said, “coming out of the woodwork.”

Tyler Duffy is one of those who came out to help the Clinton campaign. Duffy is the vice president of Students for Hillary on Campus and says one can’ t help but see the change in the Democratic climate.

“This has brought a lot of people out that wouldn’ t normally. People are much more motivated, we don’ t want another eight years of Republican government,” he says.

The Clinton campaign has nearly 30 offices in Indiana and is seeing the same kind of dedication from its volunteers according to Stephanie French, the regional press director of Hoosiers for Hillary.

“There was so much pressure on Hillary to win Pennsylvania and now that she has the support is coming out even stronger. I feel that Hoosiers can relate to Pennsylvanians and from this point out the momentum needs to stay,” she says.

In Brown County, Democratic Party chair, Kurt Young says the lasting effects of the new blood in the party won’t be clear until after the general election in the fall. But Young says some old election patterns are changing already.

“I think a lot of people have gotten away from the usual rhetoric and propaganda. Politics has gotten to the point where it’s 30-second sound bytes. This primary has had a positive effect because it requires people to pay closer attention and realize not everything said in a campaign is accurate,” he says. “Democracy is not a spectator sport.”

UC Berkeley officials briefed the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) Thursday on several campus projects sites still at the planning phase at landmarked buildings and sites.

The university’ s Assistant Vice Chancellor of Physical and Environmental Planning Capital Projects Emily Marthinsen joined UC Berkeley’ s Associate Director of Physical and Environmental Planning Beth Piatnitza to give the commission a presentation, beginning with the proposed Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) at 2120 Oxford St., the site of the landmarked UC Print Plant Building.

The project would demolish the Plant Building as well as the neighboring 250-car parking structure to develop a new home for the university’ s art museum and film archive currently housed in seismically unsafe structures on Bancroft Way.

The proposal, recently approved by the UC Regents, is at the pre-planning stage.

Architect Toyo Ito’ s conceptual plans for the new three-story building include a cafe and primary entrance on Center Street, and a “public meander” on the building’ s ground floor, with an additional entrance on Addison and Oxford Street.

According to a university report, the campus briefly considered reusing the old printing building, but abandoned the idea due to prohibitive costs.

The report said the proposed design would contribute to a more vibrant downtown arts scene.

“Organic forms in a grid pattern in the new design bridge the city grid and the campus park,” Marthinsen said.

She added that her team would not present the proposed design to the board, but that university officials would make design presentations to the Planning Commission and the Design Review Committee, in accordance with provisions of the university’ s 2020 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), in May.

The new museum-designed to meet LEED-Silver standards-is scheduled to be completed in 2013.

Lawrence Robert Rinder, who replaced Jacquelynn Baas as BAM/PFA director last month, will lead the museum through the design and implementation phase, Marthinsen said.

The University Hall Annex, a UC-owned site on Addison Street, has been discussed as a possible parking site to address the loss of parking downtown.

Preliminary plans for the existing Ciampi art museum on Bancroft include using the building as academic and support space for campus units with existing space deficits.

Designed by Mario Ciampi and completed in 1971, the Ciampi art museum is listed on the State Historic Resources Inventory and is considered a significant modern structure of the New Brutalism School.

A temporary partial seismic retrofit in 2001 elevated it from a “very poor” seismic standard to “poor.”

According to university officials, reassigning the building for other uses could allow the campus to install interior shear walls for strengthening in order to improve seismic safety.

Marthinsen said the BAM/PFA project and the city’ s Downtown Area Plan were complementary but separate efforts.

The Downtown Area Plan calls for commission review and an EIR in 2008, before heading to adoption by the City Council in 2009.

Piatnitza gave the commission an overview of the restoration and expansion plan for the nationally landmarked Naval Architecture Building on the north edge of the main campus.

Expansion proposals call for building an approximately 13,000-square-foot addition between the Naval Architecture Building and North Gate Hall to house the dean’ s office and other programs.

The parking lot to the west of the historic Anna Head School on the south side of the campus has been designated as a site for undergraduate student housing, Piatnitza said.

The proposal goes back to the 1977 City of Berkeley General Plan and the 1990 Long Range Development Plan, according to a report from the university.

UC Berkeley’ s Residential and Student Services Program proposes to construct a residence hall and apartment complex to continue their program in order to meet the 2020 LRDP undergraduate student housing goals.

The design’ s first phase includes a master plan of the entire site to address the relationship of the housing project to the Anna Head complex, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Place and on the State Historic Resources Inventory and is a City of Berkeley Landmark.

“We don’ t know how most of the projects will turn out,” Marthinsen said. “It’ s still pretty early.”

Plans to seismically upgrade the Hearst Memorial Gymnasium on Campus Park include turning it into a hub for student activities and a fitness center.

Designed by Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan, the Hearst Gymnasium for Women is significant because of its association with Phoebe Apperson Hearst and her son, William Randolph Hearst.

The building, opened in 1927 as the “largest and most modern gym for women in the country,” currently houses an outdoor swimming pool, classrooms, offices, space for physical activities and a part of the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology collection.

The university is also considering an underground addition on the north side to house the collection.

Plans to renovate the 205-bed male residence Bowles Hall include selective seismic strengthening and rehabilitation of the facade and historic steel windows.

Landmarks Chair Steven Winkel told Marthinsen the commission would like to see the projects individually in the future.

LPC agenda [www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=13016]

More information on the proposed UC Berkeley projects [www.cp.berkeley.edu/CP/PEP/History/planninghistory.html]

Campaign statements from candidates in two key local legislative races—former 16th District Assemblymember Wilma Chan in Senate District 9 and Berkeley physician Phil Polakoff in Assembly District 14—do not appear on the official ballot pamphlets for the June 3 primary, some of which have already been mailed to voters.

Chan does not have a ballot pamphlet statement because the former Assemblymember has decided not to sign the Proposition 34 voluntary campaign spending limits, but Polakoff says his failure to have a statement on the ballot was simply an oversight after he changed his mind on the spending limit pledge.

Chan's opponent in the Senate 9 race—14th District Assemblymember Loni Hancock-and Polakoff's three rivals in the race to succeed Hancock in the 14th AD—Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington, Richmond City Councilmember Tony Thurmond, and East Bay Regional Parks Director Nancy Skinner-have all signed the Prop 34 spending limit pledge and have campaign statements in the official ballot pamphlet.

Under Prop 34, passed by California voters in 2000, legislative candidates may have a 250-word statement in the official ballot pamphlet if they sign a pledge stating that they will abide by campaign spending limits. The current limit for state senate candidates is $724,000 in a primary election; the limit for state assembly candidates is $483,000 in a primary.

Although candidates who sign the campaign spending limit pledge are entitled to have a campaign statement on the official ballot pamphlet, such statements are not free. There's a fee which depends on the number of registered voters in that particular district. For Assembly District 14 candidates, the fee for having a statement in the ballot pamphlet is $1,500.

According to a spokesperson for the Alameda County Registrar of Voters office and records available from the California Secretary of State's office, Chan did not sign the voluntary spending limit form, but Polakoff did.

Polakoff said by telephone that “because I had the lowest amount of name recognition” of the four candidates in the Assembly 14, “I originally thought I was going to need more money to run my campaign,” and therefore he intended to opt out of the spending limit pledge. Polakoff said that he later determined that he was not going to spend more than the $483,000 limit after all. So he signed the pledge, but his campaign did not remember he was entitled to a ballot pamphlet statement “until it was too late. It was an oversight. In hindsight, I probably would have had a statement.”

Chan's campaign reported spending $54,000 between January and March 17 of this year, with $507,000 cash on hand, Her campaign has raised another $50,000 in donations of $1,000 or more since that time.

Polakoff reported $38,000 in expenditures between January and March 17 of this year, with a cash balance of $56,000. His campaign has raised another $34,000 in donations of $1,000 or more since then.

The next round of campaign finance statements from the assembly and state senate races-including statements of expenditures since March 17-will not be available until between May 17 and May 22. Because candidates are not required to report either expenditures or donations of under $1,000 between the March 17 and May 17 official reports, how much the campaigns have actually raised or spent since mid-March won't be known until May 17.

Former Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board member Chris Kavanagh was sentenced today (Thursday) to five years probation, including six months in the Alameda County jail, for his conviction for one felony count of falsely registering an ineligible voter, namely himself.

Kavanagh, 49, pleaded no contest to the charge on Feb. 22, saying there was a factual basis for his plea, which was an investigation by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office that concluded his primary residence is on 63rd Street in Oakland, not the address at 2709 Dwight Way in Berkeley that he listed when he ran for office and voted.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson also ordered Kavanagh to pay a $10,835 fine to the city of Berkeley for the monthly stipends and health insurance benefits he received while serving on the board. The stipends and benefits were the basis for the grand theft charge that was dropped.

Kavanagh’s parents, who accompanied him to court today, paid

$5,800 of his fine and their check was given to an attorney for the Berkeley rent board.

Kavanagh, who refused to talk to reporters today, is to pay the remaining $5,035 over the next five years.

In addition, Jacobson barred Kavanagh from seeking any elective office in California for the five years he’s on probation.

The judge told Kavanagh, “If you should apply for elective office after you complete your probation, I’m ordering you to be truthful on your application and not commit perjury.”

Kavanagh will begin serving his time at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on May 9 but initially will only be there on weekends so he can continue working at his job teaching developmentally disabled children at a school in San Francisco.

He will serve 60 consecutive days between July 1 and Sept. 1 and then will serve his remaining time on weekends in the fall.

Although the maximum sentence for the charge to which Kavanagh pleaded no contest is three years in state prison, his attorney, James

Giller, had hoped Kavanagh would be sentenced to something less than six

months in the county jail.

But Kavanagh apparently ruined his chances of getting a more lenient sentence when he sent an e-mail to reporters shortly after his no-contest plea on Feb. 22 saying he had only admitted to “a technical violation of the California election code.”

Kavanagh said the plea agreement “reflects, in my view, the fact that since my 2002 election, I complied with the city of Berkeley’s residency requirement to hold public office as a Rent Stabilization Board commissioner —with the exception of a period of time during parts of 2006 and 2007.”

White said today that, “I differ greatly about this being only a technical violation of the law. We don’t bring charges for technical violations.”

White said, “The system depends on the integrity of the voting

process.”

Giller, who repeatedly advised Kavanagh not to talk to the press about his case, said Jacobson sentenced Kavanagh to six months in jail because “he felt very strongly about the nature of the offense.”

Kavanagh took a three-month leave of absence from his post in October shortly after charges were filed against him and then resigned effective Feb. 1.

Kavanagh was first elected to the Rent Stabilization Board in 2002

and was re-elected to a second four-year term in November 2006.

The district attorney’s office first investigated Kavanagh in 2003 after Berkeley officials said he may have committed fraud when he was first elected based on allegations that his primary residence was in Oakland.

But prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to file any charges against Kavanagh at that time.

In a separate investigation, the Berkeley Fair Campaign Practices Commission submitted information to the district attorney on Jan. 19, 2006, alleging that Kavanagh was chronically late in filing campaign finance forms with the city.

But the district attorney’s office never filed charges.

Giller said Kavanagh’s conviction is “very devastating” to him.

The defense attorney said Kavanagh is “a pretty good guy who’s been involved in the Berkeley community and its politics for a good part of his life and loves the town but unfortunately he used poor judgment.”

When customers arrived at Maggie’s Coffee House in El Cerrito Tuesday morning, they were surprised to see a regular customer standing his ground between a tree and three men, one of whom was carrying a chainsaw.

“Never again,” the customer, known to regulars as Perry, yelled over the whirr of the chainsaw. “You will never cut down another tree in El Cerrito without express permission. I suggest you take your saws, safety helmets and paychecks and go home!”

Maggie’s is a quiet coffee shop that offers people in west Contra Costa County an alternative to the dreary conformity of Starbucks. The small café is tucked into the bottom floor of the Del Norte Center, a mixed-use building that has precious few features to distinguish it from the uniformity of other five-story stucco complexes that are popping up along San Pablo Avenue.

One of the complex’s most pleasant attributes was the pear trees that lined the walkway in front of the ground-floor businesses. That’s why Perry, thought by regulars to be a college professor, was so upset to see a crew of arborists cut down one tree and then move toward the next. He leapt up from his morning coffee and pastry and rushed outside to stand his ground between a tree and the crew of arborists who apparently spoke little English.

Once the crew relented and climbed aboard their truck to wait patiently for the situation to somehow resolve, Perry used his cell phone to call local newspapers, the Berkeley chapter of Green Peace and Earth First. But ultimately Perry’s noble effort failed and the dozen or so pear trees were cut down.

“They had to go,” said MG Properties project manager Frank Boudway. “We have to remove anything that creates a life and safety issue, and the trees’ roots were causing the concrete walkways to buckle.”

Boudway said they looked at possibly enlarging the planter area, but the tree roots were simply too large. But the good news, Boudway said, is that the trees will be replaced by a smaller variety of tree that doesn’t have such troublesome roots.

“We’re waiting for the city of El Cerrito to let us know what types of trees we can put in there,” he said.

Early Monday evening a running gun battle left one man critically injured and police searching for a lime green car that struck several cars during an exchange of gunfire with a pedestrian.

The dramatic shootout happened on Whitney Street, between 59th and 60th streets, and apparently concluded just doors away from the 59th Street home where a North Oakland man shot down a burglar last week after he broke a front door window to get into the residence.

Shattered bits of headlights and colored plastic littered Whitney Street, and a battered Honda Accord LX stood immobile on the street, bearing traces of the pale green paint left by the car used in the shooting.

The neighborhood has seen a rash of violence in recent months, including two fatal shootings last fall and a fusillade of gunfire discharged into the air in the parking lot of a tavern on Shattuck Avenue just south of the 59th Street intersection two weeks ago, said one neighbor.

In Tuesday night’s shooting, “the car hit several parked cars—including totaling the car of the owner of the house on Whitney that nearly burned down last Christmas,” reported one Whitney Street resident in an e-mail to neighbors.

Another neighbor said that the suspect apparently tried to hide in yards in the neighborhood, finally ending up at the intersection of 59th and McCall streets, where he collapsed on the pavement.

A third neighbor, who declined to speak for attribution, said Tuesday night’s incident was “really terrifying.”

Police blocked off the street for an hour after the incident, and City Councilmember Jane Brunner came by to talk to neighbors, said Bob Brokl, a neighborhood resident. Brunner is facing opposition in her bid for re-election from 59th Street resident Patrick McCullough—who gained fame after he shot a 15-year-old in the arm three years ago.

McCullough was not charged in that incident, in which he told police he had fired at the youth after he had been surrounded by 15 young men in his front yard who were yelling “Kill the snitch” because of his campaign against neighborhood drug dealing.

The council candidate said he had fired after the teenager told a companion, “Give me the pistol.”

Brunner said she went to the neighborhood after a call from a constituent.

“The police don’t tell you much,” she said, “but they thought it was drug related.”

Brunner said the event “was so shocking. Whitney is such a charming, lovely street, and it was frightening for residents. Fortunately, no bystanders were injured.”

Brunner said she has asked Police Chief Wayne Tucker to tell her what the department’s plan is for dealing with the rash of violence in the area.

Off the record, police have told neighbors that some of the troubles may stem from gang rivalries, either between the Dogtown and Acorn gangs or from a renewal of the long-standing rivalry between North Oakland and South Berkeley groups.

Brunner said police have identified and begun tracking about 30 potential troublemakers. “They are giving them an opportunity to change, but they are keeping an eye on them,” she said.

“Now you see what I have to deal with,” said McCullough, who lives in the block of 59th Street between Shattuck and Telegraph avenues.

The candidate said Brunner “has never been in this neighborhood unless she has a police escort. I guess she’s really desperate.”

McCullough said that instead of waiting for the police chief to come up with a program, a councilmember should come up with one of their own. “That’s why you’ve got a staff,” he said.

McCullough said crime is down on his own block, where neighbors are well organized and quick to call police when they see anything suspicious. But one resident was mugged several months ago by a group of young men and subsequently moved out, he said.

One major problem, he said, is that underfunded police can’t provide the kind of community policing community members want and still conduct intensive enforcement in high crime neighborhoods. “That’s when people decide they have to look out after themselves,” he said.

The earlier shooting, which happened April 22, occurred in the block west of Shattuck after a resident heard the sounds of breaking glass and found Nathan Cooper, 31, breaking in through the front door.

Police said the resident told them he fired because he thought Cooper was attacking with a weapon. Cooper managed to stagger to the same parking lot where the shots had been fired a week earlier.

He was taken to the hospital in serious condition, and later charged with burglary.

Oakland Police spokesperson Roland Holmgren said he would have the investigating officer contact a reporter about the latest incident, but no information had been received by deadline Wednesday.

The state Senate Environmental Quality Committee unanimously passed a resolution Monday calling for a moratorium on aerial spraying for the light brown apple moth (LBAM) until the state agriculture department “can demonstrate that the pheromone compound it intends to use is both safe to humans and effective at eradicating the light brown apple moth.”

The resolution, SCR 87, authored by Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco and Marin County, next goes to the Senate Agriculture Committee.

While the resolution is simply advisory to the governor, if eventually passed by both houses of the state legislature, “it becomes a tool for public pressure for people in power,” said Nan Wishner, chair of the Albany Integrated Pest Management Task Force, speaking to the Daily Planet today.

“It will be harder for people in power to hide behind the furniture,” she added.

Wishner said she was especially impressed by the testimony before the committee by Derrell Chambers, a retired U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologist, who said he does not support the proposed spraying of the LBAM with a synthetic pheromone, aimed at disrupting mating behavior. The pheromone and other ingredients are put into microcapsules and dispersed by low-flying airplanes.

“No eradication of a pest species with only mating disruption has ever been accomplished,” Chambers told the committee, quoted in a Pesticide Watch advisory. Chambers’ statement contradicts the California Department of Food and Agriculture position, which is that the aerial spraying of a pheromone can eradicate the moth.

“Certainly, the public’s present feeling that they are being subjected to an unwarranted, unsafe, and untested procedure should be more thoroughly addressed than it so far has been,” Chambers told the committee. “I believe the LBAM project should be challenged on all these issues, but I am particularly concerned that the issue of efficacy has not been sufficiently questioned.”

Aerial spraying was conducted in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties in September and was to be resumed in June; however, a Santa Cruz Superior Court decision last week imposed a moratorium on the spraying in Santa Cruz until the environmental impacts are studied. (A similar lawsuit targeting the spraying in Monterey County will be heard May 8.)

Sunday brunch at the Berkeley Thai Temple could soon become a thing of the past.

City zoning officials are investigating the 30-year-old Buddhist temple on Russell Street for possible use permit violations after a group of neighbors charged it with running a large-scale commercial restaurant in a residential neighborhood, bringing litter and congestion to the area.

The neighbors made their complaints during a public hearing on proposed expansions to the temple at the Zoning Adjustments Board last week.

Temple supporters denied the charges and requested a permit to build a new Buddha shrine on the site and add four parking spaces on an adjacent vacant lot.

“We are not a restaurant,” temple committee member Komson Thong told zoning officials after the hearing. “Offering food is part of our religious ceremony. People can come and eat or go to the prayer room. They are free to do what they want.”

For the 208 food enthusiasts who have rated Wat Mongkolratanaram—as the temple is formally known—with four or more stars on the popular user-generated review website Yelp, the place is known as a “Sunday food fair” and “a cafeteria-style Thai place.”

People from all over the Bay Area rave about its pad thai, fried chicken and mango rice with custard as the best cure for hangovers and advise friends to start lining up to buy tokens—which visitors exchange for food—as early as 8 a.m.

“You must have a solid tactical plan to avoid a nervous breakdown,” said one reviewer from Oakland, who compared the experience with queuing at IKEA, the DMV and Berkeley Bowl.

Another lamented: “Prices have sadly gone up because, as you’ll see when you get there, demand has also definitely gone up.”

Demand has definitely increased, according to testimonies by some Oregon and Russell street neighbors who complained that the 200 or more people who visit the temple for brunch every Sunday block their driveways and climb on their fences, leaving behind paper plates, cups and plastic forks in their backyards.

“We get the idea that the extent of things might be a little more that what the original permit allowed,” said the city’s project planner Greg Powell. “So we have decided to review all the city approvals granted over the last 15 to 20 years to compare it with what we see today.”

He said the main issue is what happens on Sundays.

“They do not have a permit to be a restaurant—you need a variance for that,” Powell said. “I don’t think they operate as a restaurant. It’s a Thai tradition to serve food to temple visitors. They say it’s on a donation basis—but that’s certainly not supported by what we heard at the public hearing.”

The reviews, Powell said, gave the impression that people treated it like a restaurant.

“We don’t want anyone who walks in to think that way,” he said. “We don’t know what kind of cooking facilities they have. If they told the city they were going to have these food events four or five times a year with 10 people, then the current situation is beyond what we recognized.”

Some neighbors were angry that the temple started work as early as 5 a.m., since a 1993 zoning permit limits the use to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The temple has been serving food to the public outdoors in the back of the property from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday.

Piper Davis, who moved into the house abutting the Thai temple three years ago, complained at the hearing that the noise of pots and pans clanging to prepare food woke her up early in the morning.

“We want this large-scale, open-air commercial restaurant moved to another location,” said her husband Tom Ruff. “It’s really under-described, and has inflicted significant harm on the community surrounding the Thai temple. We respect the spirit of their mission, but we respectfully object to a large-scale commercial restaurant.”

Another neighbor, John W. Taylor, said he had been unable to enjoy his driveway, which was blocked by cars belonging to visitors at the temple every week.

“They need to construct more parking spaces,” he said. “Four parking spaces is like putting your finger in a dike.”

Temple Monk Manat Suksa-ad told the Planet that the monks cleaned up behind the visitors every Sunday.

“We only get a large crowd on Sundays,” he said. “Rest of the week it’s pretty quiet.”

Next door at the South Berkeley Public Library, branch manager Jeri Ewart agreed.

“The crowd often spills into our lawn, but they do a pretty good job with picking up the litter,” Ewart said. “We are closed on Sundays, but on the rare occasions we do stay open, I have never had a problem finding a parking spot. They put up big signs asking people to stay clear of people’s driveways and even have trash cans ready. But I guess if I lived across the street it would be different.”

James Harris, who lives next door to the Thai Temple on Russell Street, described it as “a good neighbor.”

“I am the one who should be complaining right?” he said. “But I have no complaints. I’d rather have them than Section 8 housing.”

The temple will start mediating with its neighbors about parking, hours of operations and other concerns this week. Last Sunday, the monks cut back on the brunch hours—restricting it from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“We have taken some immediate steps to address the concerns,” Thong told the Planet Tuesday. “No more cooking outside. The amount of food will be limited to the number of visitors. We will also stop serving fried food because neighbors complained of the smell.”

It’s the only place in Berkeley where you can pet a Komodo dragon. And if you are lucky, watch in bug-eyed wonder as tarantulas perform handstands and Burmese Albino pythons bask in the afternoon sun.

For some, the East Bay Vivarium on 1827 Fifth St. is a Berkeley gem. For others, a living, breathing nightmare.

Whatever your qualms about all things coldblooded, the city might lose the 20-year-old gallery and reptile house, touted as the nation’s largest and oldest, to the age-old problem—parking.

Sporting a boa constrictor print on his T-shirt, vivarium owner Owen Maercks appeared before the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board last week trying to stop a 22-unit three-story mixed-use project totaling 20,820 square feet at 1819 Fifth St., next to his business.

Maercks’ argument: The proposed development, which would include 22 parking spaces, would push his business out of Berkeley.

“When we came here 20 years ago, there was a parking problem,” he said. “We have been losing business over the years, but parking is worse than ever today. A 22-unit project will be the final straw.”

Applicant Tim Rempel said the vivarium—housed on a 6,500 lot—should provide 15 to 20 parking spots for its customers, instead of the current five.

“I think it’s a valuable business, but it’s in a building difficult to have a business out of,” he said. “Our project is modest and sustainable.”

Maercks continued his pitch. He quoted from a March 30 New York Times article, “36 Hours in Berkeley, Calif.,” which lists the East Bay Vivarium and Moe’s Books as the city’s only two commercial businesses under its “must-

visits.”

“We have 4.5 stars out of 5 on Yelp,” he pointed out, referring to the local user-generated review website. “The store attracts visitors not only from the Bay Area but from all over the world.”

Finding no fault with the development, or its parking requirements, the zoning board approved Rempel’s project, emphasizing that the City Council and the Planning Department should step in to address the parking concerns.

“The issue of parking is not going to go away, whether this particular project is prevented or not,” said zoning commissioner Terry Doran. “Existing businesses will have to co-exist with new businesses.”

Zoning officials agreed.

“It’s pretty obvious that there’s not a lot of parking on that street,” zoning secretary Steve Ross told the Planet Wednesday. “Existing parking problems are not something you can force a new project to solve.”

Most of the surrounding businesses or residences, including the East Bay Vivarium, Ross said, had limited or no parking, since they were built decades ago.

“It would require a survey to reveal the real deficit, to know what the code requires versus what the buildings provide,” he said.

The city’s zoning ordinance for mixed-use residences on Fifth Street mandates quick-service cafes to provide one parking spot for every 300 square feet. Live/work spaces have to provide one parking space each and manufacturing units must have one parking spot for every 1000 square feet.

Remple—who plans to have a 600-square-foot cafe, nine live/work units, three commercial units, and 10 light industrial units as part of his development—abides by all the parking requirements.

“The minute he drops his shovel I have to start looking for a new place,” Maercks told the Planet on Wednesday, standing on his store’s driveway, which was packed with cars even as late as 7 p.m. “When we moved here, the corner house was a farm. At least three of the houses across the street did not exist. The parking problem has reached critical mass today. Berkeley has this crazy notion that making parking difficult will dissuade people from using their cars and make them ride bikes. But it doesn’t work that way.”

Vivarium reviews on Yelp are dotted with complaints about parking.

“One star gone for the hard parking around 5th street,” said one user from San Jose in her post mortem.

Another Hayward resident elaborated: “There is nowhere to park. Fifth Street is obviously the next street down from the legendary Fourth Street in Berkeley and so there are always a lot of people around. A lot of people means a lot of cars.”

“My customers are not the kind who can park elsewhere,” he said. “They come here to purchase large pieces of furniture ... You can’t lug that down the street. Last year our revenue was down by 20 percent, our lowest ever. What that means is that not only do my partner and I make no money, but the business loses money. I can deal with it one year, but I can’t deal with it every year.”

Maercks’ said he lobbied to get two-hour parking zones in front of the store when he first moved in.

“I am not saying we have adequate on-site parking, but we have been here for 20 years something should be grandfathered in. I don’t want to leave Berkeley, but I can’t afford the rent here.”

A similar-sized rental space in the city, Maercks said, came with a $9,000 to $15,000 price tag—twice the amount of money he pays his current landlord.

At last week’s meeting, Zoning Board Vice-Chair Bob Allen suggested the possibility of the public utilizing the parking lot at Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto and Restaurant on Fourth Street a bit more.

“Most people think it’s only for the restaurants’ customers,” Maercks’ said. “But the reality is, you can pay to park there. It needs to open up access from Fourth and Hearst streets. Right now you can only access it directly from the restaurant.”

Other zoning commissioners wondered whether mediation would do the trick.

“It’s not like he (Rempel) is building extra parking space I could lease,” Maercks’ said. “He’s providing what is legally required but not enough.”

If the City Council gives its OK, the UC Berkeley College Republicans may have a parking space of their own on Shattuck Avenue on Wednesday afternoons, directly across the street from the Code Pink anti-war, anti-recruitment demonstrations in front of the Marine Recruiting Center

“We are against them [Code Pink]—they are against the recruit-ers,” Kimberly Wagner, activism chair for the Berkeley College Republicans told the Planet Wednesday.

“The permits given to Code Pink are not permits you can apply for,” she said, noting she had asked the mayor to help obtain permits, but he had refused.

(The mayor did not return a Planet phone call before deadline.)

She said she then went to Councilmember Kriss Worthington for help.

On Jan. 29, the City Council voted to waive sound permit fees for Code Pink and allow them a parking space for six months to demonstrate Wednesdays from noon to 4 p.m. in front of 64 Shattuck Square.

Worthington, who opposes the war, told the Planet he has no choice but to support the request, as it is a question of equity.

But Zanne Joi of Code Pink told the Planet that, while she supports the College Republicans’ right to protest, Code Pink was accorded the parking space because the group is in sync with the city’s consistent pro-peace positions and because, without the parking space, the numerous Code Pink demonstrators would block the sidewalk.

“The council determined we should have a parking space because this is a city of peace,” Joi said, “It’s not a city of war.”

Moreover, she said, there are generally only two or three College Republicans who regularly come out to counter-demonstrate against Code Pink—not enough people to warrant the need for additional space for a demonstration.

Wagner, a freshman from Fullerton studying political science, told the Planet Wednesday that the Young Republicans were going ahead with their request for a parking space. In an April 25 e-mail to Worthington, she had written that they wanted to circulate a petition asking the council “to remove Code Pink from within a one mile radius of the recruitment center, with the goal of alleviating the disturbances to the surrounding businesses.”

The petition idea came about, she said, when they realized that by the time they had the permit it would be summer break: “Most of us would not be here.” Wagner told the Planet that at this point “the petition is on hold.”

The tangled ties between UC Berkeley and the agro-chemo-pharmaceutical industry grew gnarlier this week, with GMO and herbicide giant Monsanto thrown into the equation.

Mendel Technology, founded by Chris Somerville, announced Monday a partnership with Monsanto to develop fuels from miscanthus—the same crop that is the target of much of the research of the Energy Bioscience Institute (EBI), the campus-based program funded with $500 million from British oil giant BP plc.

Somerville, who heads the EBI, no longer holds a management position with Mendel.

Miscanthus is a relative of sugar cane and produces tall stalks that Berkeley researchers hope to break down into fuel components with genetically altered microbes.

EBI researchers hope to convert cellulose into fuel, a process that is now both difficult and costly. Researchers have talked of genetically tweaking microbes harvested from termite guts, which break down wood fibers swallowed by the voracious insects.

Somerville was recruited from Stanford and the Carnegie Institute to run the EBI, a program administered by the university and partnering with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

The second major fuel crop program administered by the university is headed by another UC Berkeley scientist, Jay Keasling, whose own private company just announced last a commercial sugar-cane-to-fuel program in partnership with a leading Brazilian ethanol producer.

Critics of the UC Berkeley agrofuel programs have consistently charged that privatization of academic research will have adverse impacts on Third World countries, where patented crops have spurred massive protests and, in India, suicides.

Monsanto is one of the leading targets of protests, in part because it owns both the pesticide Roundup and genetically altered crops engineered to resist the pesticide—forcing farmers to buy both seeds and chemicals from the same company.

Mendel has also developed strains of soy for Monsanto, and the company has also partnered with Bayer CropScience to research the ways plants respond to Bayer chemicals.

Last June, the company announced it was partnering with EBI sponsor BP to collaborate on developing crops, dubbed feedstocks, suitable for fuel production.

That announcement came less than three months after Mendel acquired the world’s largest collection of germ plasm for miscanthus, the subject of both this week’s announced Monsanto partnership and efforts of the BP-funded EBI program.

Monsanto and Mendel have had a long-term relationship, according to the company’s press releases, and signed a five-year agreement in 2006 for the agro-giant to develop the fruits of Mendel’s research.

A plan to support the proliferation of solar panels in Berkeley, approved in concept by the City Council last year, is neither quick nor cheap to implement, city officials have found.

While an Oct. 23, 2007, press release from the mayor’s office announced that “Berkeley is set to become the first city in the nation to allow property owners to pay for energy improvements and solar system installation ... on their individual property tax bill,” Berkeley is not likely to see its first city-supported solar panel for six months or more.

City officials updated the council on the plan at a workshop on the question last week.

When the plan gets finalized, perhaps six months down the road, a preliminary group of 25 participants will be testing the waters. Staff is still working on the application process and on questions such as how the first participants will be selected and when the installer gets paid, according to an April 22 report to the council

The council approved the idea in concept in November, and approved a “special tax financing law” more formally at its April 22 meeting. This law is the first of about a dozen formal steps the city must take to implement what they are calling “FIRST,” or the Financing Initiative for Renewable and Solar Technology.

The idea is to create a tax district that would encompass the entire city. Property owners would opt into the program.

The city would work with a banking institution that would provide financing for the solar panels for qualified property owners who wanted it. A bond would be issued, backed by liens against the participants’ property. The bond proceeds would finance the solar systems upfront.

Participating owners would pay for the systems over a 20-year period as part of their property taxes. If they sold the property, the tax burden would be tranferred with it.

There’s a lengthy legal path the city must navigate to create this kind of district, with some 12 steps the council will be asked to approve over the coming months.

But even more difficult is “getting an agreement from a lending institution,” Neal DeSnoo, the city’s energy officer, said Tuesday.

One of the questions that must be answered is the role of the city when a property tax payment is late. Would the city be responsible? The degree to which the financial institution would be responsible would be part of determining the cost of the financing, De Snoo told the Planet.

City staff and “pro bono” consultants—likely to be hired after grant funds are received, according to De Snoo—are taking proposals to various lending institutions to determine whether they want to participate as well as the interest rates they can offer participants.

The program depends on getting financing costs down to a minimum—below the rate homeowners could get through equity loans. In the end, the goal is to get the owners’ monthly costs more-or-less equal to the savings they would get from lower PG&E bills.

Homeowners participating in the program would select a solar installer registered with the California Solar Initiative, sponsored by the Public Utility Commission and the state’s Energy Commission. These licensed contractors are in good standing with the Secretary of State’s office, but are not vetted in other ways. They are listed on the CSI website at: www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov.

The first phase, which is a pilot, will home in on solar voltaic panels exclusively, in order to test the financing. Participants will have to comply with the city’s Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO), which mandates installation of low-flush toilets, insulation and other energy conservation measures.

Councilmember Laurie Capitelli noted at the April 22 workshop that mandating RECO standards is setting a “low bar.”

The second phase, in which there will be 75 participants, will include solar hot water financing and may include financing for other energy-saving measures beyond the RECO requirements, such as the installation of a more efficient heater or double-paned windows.

The process is not without costs. The city will be hiring staff to run the program and consultants to put together the financing. Most of the expenses will be funded through grants to be used over two years. An Environmental Protection Agency grant for $115,000 and a Bay Area Air Quality District grant for $75,000 are still being finalized, according to DeSnoo.

Ongoing administrative costs would be built into the costs of the financing mechanism, according to the April 22 staff report.

The city’s share in the initial two-year phase is about $37,000 plus staff time. Staff time expended working on the project to date has not been logged, according to DeSnoo.

When the plan was first widely publicized by the mayor’s office in the fall, there was an unanticipated reaction by homeowners then considering installing solar systems. They told solar installers they planned to wait for the city’s solar financing.

City staff now say people should not wait, since it is unknown if federal tax credits will be available in the future. A $2,000 federal tax credit is set to expire by the end of the year, though it may be renewed, DeSnoo said..

If Mayor Tom Bates and councilmembers Laurie Capitelli and Dona Spring have their way, free evening parking in downtown Berkeley may be a luxury of the past.

Despite negative reaction from downtown neighbors—and the Chamber of Commerce, which objected to the idea the following day—the City Council voted last week 6-1-2 to have staff study expanding paid meter hours until 10 p.m. (Councilmember Betty Olds voted in opposition and councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Darryl Moore abstained.)

The plan would apply uniquely to the city’s “pay and display” meters—the large multiple-space meters that take coins and credit cards—which can be set to charge different amounts for different times of the day and to allow people to park for an extended period of time.

At present, meters cost $1.25 each hour. A recent 25-cent-per-hour hike was put in place to fund various services aimed at curbing inappropriate behavior by homeless or mentally ill people who hang out in commercial shopping areas.

The proposal before the council did not include a specific amount of money to be raised and was imprecise about where the money would be spent: “A portion of the revenues [would be spent on] alternative transit modes and the arts,” said the proposal, signed by Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmembers Laurie Capitelli and Dona Spring.

On Friday, Julie Sinai, Bates’ chief of staff, told the Planet her office had no further precision to offer on where the funds might be spent.

Capitelli, however, said there were a number of possible ways to spend the money, for example, creating a “free zone” for AC transit buses, a section within the city where people could ride the bus without cost. The funds generated might also pay the salary of an arts coordinator, he said, underscoring, however, that what he wants immediately is information from the city manager on implementation. “I’m not ready to go ahead,” he said.

Addressing the council before the vote on Tuesday, L. A. Wood, who lives near downtown, said he expects that, with the advent of evening meter parking, his neighborhood would be inundated with spill-over parkers.

The councilmembers’ statement provoked an argument about climate change issues: “Berkeley citizens made the bold decision to address climate change and reduce our community’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050,” the document says, noting that “gasoline and diesel consumption by automobiles within the Berkeley city limits accounts for about 47 percent of Berkeley’s total greenhouse gas emissions....”

It goes on to quote Donald Shoup, author of “The High Cost of Parking,” saying “cruising for curb parking generates about 30 percent of the traffic in central business districts.” The proposal claims that higher costs for parking would result in more parking availability, and therefore, cut down on people cruising for parking—and the greenhouse gas emissions.

Doug Buckwald addressed the council on the question, saying the “green” argument was specious. He accused the council of making “green” arguments “without making a direct connection” to the question at hand.

While supporting having the city manage the issue, Councilmember Max Anderson said that the revenue stream in Berkeley should not be addressed piecemeal. “We need to have a focused workshop on what we need to do to enhance revenue,” he said, noting that the discussion should include business retention strategies.

Councilmember Darryl Moore, who abstained on the question, said he opposed meter operations in the evening. “I believe it will have a negative impact on business downtown,” he said, noting that parking in Emeryville is just $1 for the evening.

Arguing to the contrary, Councilmember Linda Maio said people don’t mind paying for parking. She noted that “lines to parking garages go down the street” in the evening.

But in a letter to the council, Michael Katz responded to that notion. He said paying for parking at night might work for people spending $50 for a seat at the Berkeley Rep, but, he argued: “Removing free, casual parking keeps away patrons who might otherwise check out a club band, a low-cost theatrical performance, or another low-commitment event, just out of curiosity.”

Bates supported the plan, noting that people use up the parking spaces around the downtown BART station to go to San Francisco. Spring said downtown residents park there overnight.

In an April 25 letter to Bates, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ted Garrett blasted the proposal on several counts: allowing parking for various hours and charging different rates at different times of the day would confuse people; the occasional visitor who gets a hefty parking fine is unlikely to return; people will not use the parking lots in the evening because they feel unsafe; there’s no guarantee where the revenue will be spent and the policy will hurt the city’s efforts to attract and retain business.

• Unanimously denied an appeal for the zoning board’s approval of a biodiesel fuel (used, processed cooking oil) station at 1441 Ashby Ave.

• Unanimously approved a recommendation that city staff collect data on sources of alcohol in alcohol-involved collisions and DUI arrests.

• Voted to delay until May 6 a vote on a contract with Stockton Recycling Inc. and Zanker Road Resource Management to transport and recycle demolition materials. Councilmembers Betty Olds, Gordon Wozniak and Laurie Capitelli voted in opposition.

• Unanimously voted to oppose the Runner Initiative on the June ballot that would increase funding for criminal justice programs by $500,000,000 annually.

• Unanimously voted to sponsor the annual celebration of Berkeley Conscientious Objectors and War Resisters Day.

• Voted 8-1 to increase the city manager’s authority to implement contracts up to $50,000 without council approval. (The present authority is up to $25,000.) Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring voted in opposition.

Members of the Housing Advisory Commission (HAC) today (Thursday) will look at efforts to rehabilitate the low-income housing building located just across the street from People’s Park.

Affordable Housing Associates (AHA) owns the 18-unit building at 2500 Hillegass Ave., where two tenants have complained that their apartment was left without heating for more than two years.

A recent visit to the building by a reporter also found evidence of mold growing beneath the first floor and turned up complaints that gravel poured into hallways from the ceiling during rainstorms.

AHA has owned the building since May 2001, according to a report prepared for Thursday’s meeting by city Community Development Project Coordinator Lourdes Chang.

The city spurred the acquisition, Chang reports, because the units “were at risk of converting to market rate.”

The building provides a dozen units for tenants in the federally established very- low- and low-income categories, with the remainder reserved for those in the moderate category.

Federal policy defines very low income as a household earning less than 50 percent of the area median income (AMI), with low income pegged at 50 to 80 percent of AMI and moderate income set at between 80 and 115 percent of AMI. The income figures are calculated for each Statistical Area, a population cluster defined by the Census Bureau.

Two long-time tenants, Grace Christie and Jill Hutchby, told HAC members they had been without heat for three years, despite repeated complaints to AHA.

The problem turned out to be a switch inside the thermostat which had not been turned on. “They told us we couldn’t open the thermostat,” Hutchby said.

“They sent their people here twice, and Pacific Gas and Electric came out twice, but it was only the last time they found the thermostat switch had been set at ‘off’,” she said.

“We’d been sleeping in sleeping bags” because of the cold, Christie said.

Christie said she was also concerned about the building’s security because the doors to balconies don’t have locks.

In her report, Chang said AHA will be seeking money for the city’s Housing Trust Fund to conduct more extensive renovations at the Hillegass building.

“To leverage city funds, AHA will apply for low-income housing tax credits, tax-exempt bond financing and other available housing funds,” she reported, with a goal of $400,000 to $800,000. AHA has already spent $300,000 on maintenance, upgrades and repairs.

Because of tax credit rules, funding from that program won’t be available until late next year or early 2010.

Proposed work includes an upgraded electrical system with solar panels to power the building’s common areas, renovations to the garage area, including additional laundry space, fire escape repairs, repair or replacement of fire escapes, new cabinetry and hardware where needed in kitchens and bathrooms, installation of electric baseboard heaters in all units, new tile for all apartments and any needed upgrades for disabled access.

Thursday night’s meeting will also include possible action on a recommendation to the City Council seeking the transfer of $1 million in general fund revenues to the Housing Trust Fund, and discussions of city density bonus and condominium conversion ordinance proposals.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. at Ashby Avenue.

An Alameda County jury on Tuesday convicted Christopher Hollis of voluntary manslaughter for the death of 19-year-old Meleia Willis-Starbuck, who was fatally shot near the intersection of College Avenue and Dwight Way in Berkeley in the early morning hours of July 17, 2005.

The jury came back with the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, although the prosecution was seeking a murder conviction.

The jury also found Hollis guilty of assault with a firearm in connection with the shooting, because one of the five shots he fired grazed the arm of UC Berkeley football player Gary Doxy. Hollis was also found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The shooting occurred after Hollis, a 25-year-old Hayward man, and two other men responded to Willis-Starbuck’s call for help when she and several women friends were confronted by several UC Berkeley football players.

According to prosecutor Elgin Lowe, the confrontation occurred after the football players tried to pick up the women and then insulted them after their advances were rebuffed.

Hollis, who attended Berkeley High with Willis-Starbuck, confessed to police that he fired the gun but said he felt horrible when he learned his close friend had been struck and killed.

Defense attorney Greg Syren had argued to jurors that Hollis should only be convicted of voluntary manslaughter because he “had no intent to kill anyone” and was only trying to protect his friend and disperse the crowd of people who were gathered on the street that morning.

Berkeley Police are seeking a dapper-looking credit card thief who has managed to steal nearly $20,000 in cash and illegally purchased goods.

Sgt. Mary Kusmiss reports that the serial thief, a fellow who may be driving a 1999-2004 gold Acura RL, has been hitting ATMs for cash and stores for purchases in Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro.

ATMs are generally equipped with cameras, and the plastic pilferer has been captured in digital form, so Sgt. Kusmiss hopes the images will result in his apprehension.

The sergeant asks anyone with leads to call the Berkeley Police Property Crimes Detail at 981-5737 and refer to case number 07-58035. Anyone who spots the suspect should call the department’s non-emergency dispatcher line at 981-5900.

The power of incumbency brings with it two major political pluses: the ability to raise campaign money and the ability to gain endorsements.

Former 16th District Assemblymember Wilma Chan—once one of the most powerful political figures in Sacramento when she served as Assembly Majority leader—has still been able to keep pace in fund-raising with her Senate District 9 Democratic primary opponent, 14th District Assemblymember Loni Hancock. At the end of the last campaign finance reporting period, Chan’s campaign had $507,000 in the bank to Hancock’s $406,000.

But two years after Chan was termed out of the state legislature after six years in office, Chan is trailing Hancock badly in key political endorsements in their race to succeed termed-out State Senator Don Perata.

Perata himself has endorsed both Chan and Hancock. But Hancock has the support of powerful outgoing Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez as well as all three of the United States Congressmembers representing the East Bay: Barbara Lee, George Miller and Ellen Tauscher.

Hancock also has the endorsement of two of the most powerful politicians in Oakland, Mayor Ron Dellums and 16th District Assemblymember Sandré Swanson. Not surprisingly, Hancock has the endorsement of her husband, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. Meanwhile, Chan is endorsed by California Attorney General and former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, who continues to be a political power in the East Bay. Hancock has the support of Oakland City Attorney Courtney Ruby, Chan the support of Oakland City Attorney John Russo.

Hancock is beating Chan in endorsements by councilmembers in the two of the three largest City Councils in the district, getting 6 endorsements to Chan’s 2 in Berkeley and 7 to Chan’s 0 in Richmond. Only in Oakland is Chan doing well, getting 5 endorsements to Hancock’s 0 from Oakland city councilmembers. In addition, Chan has gotten the only two endorsements by members of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, while Hancock has taken the only endorsement by a member of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors.

The two Senate candidates are virtually tied in most of the education board endorsements: 3 to 3 in the Berkeley School Board (one school board member, Shirley Issel, doing a dual endorsement), 3 to 2 for Chan in the Peralta Community College District Trustee Board (Nicky Gonzalez Yuen and Cy Gulassa doing a dual endorsement), and Chan leading 6 to 5 in Oakland School Board endorsements (4 board members doing dual endorsements). On the West Contra Costa School Board, however, Hancock has 4 endorsements to 0 for Chan.

Hancock is also doing well with endorsements by the area’s two public transportation district boards, beating Chan 3 to 0 on the AC Transit Board and 2 to 0 on the BART Board.

The two candidates are splitting the local and statewide labor, environmental, political organization, and professional endorsements, but Hancock has captured the largest political organization prize with the endorsement of the California Democratic Party.

In the race to succeed Don Perata in State Senate District 9, candidates Loni Hancock and Wilma Chan are virtually dead even in large campaign contributions in the last month and a half.

But in the four-way race to succeed Hancock as State Assemblymember from District 14, Berkeley physician Phil Polakoff is pulling in three times the large contributions of rivals East Bay Parks District Director Nancy Skinner and Richmond City Councilmember Tony Thurmond, while Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington is reporting no large contributions in recent weeks.

That is the result of a Daily Planet analysis of large contributions in the Senate 9 and Assembly 14 races posted on the California Secretary of State’s website since the last campaign reporting period ended March 17. The postings show contributions of $1,000 or more since that time, and the totals do not reflect the total amount of contributions made to each campaign.

In the Senate District 9 race, Hancock pulled in $60,050 in large contributions in the last month and a half to $50,340 for former District 16 Assemblymember Chan.

More than $22,000 of Hancock’s large contributions come from individual businesses or business political action committees (PACs), with another $16,400 coming from labor organizations and $12,100 coming from individual donations. Hancock’s largest single donations were $7,200 apiece from the California Real Estate PAC and from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Educational Committee of Washington, D.C.

For Chan, $12,000 of her large contributions in the last month and a half came from individual donors, with another $10,840 coming from businesses or business-related PACs and $7,600 coming from medical-related PACs. Like Hancock, Chan’s largest contribution came from a labor organization: $6,700 from the Service Employees International Union United Health Care Workers West PAC of Sacramento.

In the Assembly District 14 race, Polakoff brought in more than $34,000 in large contributions since mid-March, Skinner $11,428, and Thurmond $11,100.

Of Polakoff’s contributions, $24,350 came from individuals, with another $6,000 coming from medically-based PACs. Polakoff’s largest contribution was a $3,350 donation from Thomas Williams, an executive with Integrated Health Associates.

Skinner received $5,428 from labor organizations, the largest a $2,928 donation from AFSCME Local 2428 East Bay Parks(she’s on the regional parks board), and $5,000 in individual contributions, including $1,000 from Hancock, whom Skinner is trying to succeed.

Thurmond received $4,600 from campaign committees of other candidates, $3,600 alone from the Re-Elect Fiona Ma committee of San Francisco, and another $2,500 from developer Stan Davis of Pittsburg.

Both Thurmond in the Assembly 14 race and Hancock in the Senate 9 race received $1,500 contributions from the powerful OAKPAC political action committee of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

Three Bay Area marches on May Day—and an eight-hour shutdown of West Coast ports—will merge traditional calls for better pay and benefits with support for the rights of immigrants and a call to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Separate but coordinated Bay Area events are planned for today (Thursday):

• Oakland Sin Fronteras (Oakland Without Borders): Participants will gather at 3 p.m. at the Fruitvale BART Plaza, with speakers on the rights of immigrant workers; a march will go down International Boulevard to Oakland City Hall, where a second rally—with elected and union representatives—will be held at 6 p.m.

• “No Peace—No Work” on May Day: Participants will meet at the ILWU Hall at Beach and Masonic streets in San Francisco and march along the Embarcadero to Justin Herman Plaza, where there will be a noon rally;

• Movement for Unconditional Am-nesty: At 2 p.m. there will be a rally at Dolores Park in San Francisco followed by a march to Civic Center. A rally with music will be held at 5 p.m. at Civic Center.

• Longshore workers plan to shut down West Coast ports all day.

• A rally will be held in Berkeley at noon at Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley Campus to demand full and equal rights for all immigrants, an increase in under-represented minority student enrollment at UC-Berkeley, the right to financial aid for undocumented immigrants (Dream Act) and the end to the occupation of Iraq.

“They say immigrants are stealing jobs, that the economy is going down because of us,” Manuel Depaz, spokes-person for Oakland Sin Fronteras, told the Planet on Monday. What is true, however, is that immigrants do jobs that citizens don’t usually want, such as working in the fields or cleaning hotel rooms, he said.

In Oakland, a number of labor unions have endorsed the march, including the SEIU 1877, the Oakland Education Association, United HERE 2850 and AFSCME 3299. The Alameda County Central Labor Council, La Clinica de la Raza, Black Alliance for Justice for Immigrants, and others have also endorsed the march.

Speaking for the immigrant rights march in San Francisco, Alex Franco told the Planet that undocumented immigrant workers pay into Social Security and pay their taxes but get no benefits returned to them, as workers with documents do.

“Immigrants are workers too,” Franco said, underscoring that the marches are calling for unconditional amnesty for undocumented workers.

Retired Berkeley letter carrier and union activist Dave Welsh has been helping to publicize the marches. Speaking to the Planet, he underscored the cooperation among the sponsoring organizations.

“They each have speakers at each other’s rallies,” he said. Two of them are Cindy Sheehan, anti-war activist and candidate for Congress, and Cynthia McKinney, Green Party presidential candidate.

Endorsers of the ILWU march include the San Francisco and South Bay Central Labor Councils, the California Federation of Teachers, the National Association of Letter Carriers and Grandmothers Against the War and more.

Depaz told the Planet this is a critical time to fight for immigrant rights, with recent raids on work places picking up workers who have lived in the U.S. and paid taxes here for as long as 20 years. When undocumented workers get hurt on the job, they can’t say how they got hurt, he added.

The flood of beer commercials for the coming Cinco de Mayo would make one think that the event signifies Cinco Cervezas. Swamped in suds is the actual meaning, which is the commemoration of the battle at Puebla in 1862 where a hastily collected Mexican army stopped invading troops on their march to Mexico City to establish a colonial empire funded by Emperor Napoleon of France for Austrian Archduke Maximillian.

Among the Mexican defenders at Puebla was Vicente Riva Palacio, a 29-year-old playwright, who helped recruit soldiers for the battle off the streets of the capital, and later rose to rank of general. Riva Palacio was the grandson of Vicente Guerrero, hero of the 1810 war for independence, who has a state in his name and was Mexico’s first president with African heritage.

Riva Palacio commemorated the battle in the 5th of May 1869 issue of his Mexico City newspaper of theater and politics, “La Orquesta.” (A copy of the issue is at the Bancroft library.)

The nation has its days of glory, breaks from painful memories and sad considerations.

Mexico counts May 5 among these days, when the great Mexican family forgets its pains and sadness to lose itself in celebration of the memory of an immortal triumph, the commemoration of a great and heroic deed.

The destiny of the nation had been decided on the fine desktop of the grand merchant of European politics. Napoleon was convinced his entrance would be a ball game, as certain as it would be lucrative, and the grandest achievement of his reign, yet attempted with a haste and flippancy, as if it wasn’t going to put two peoples in battle, as if this enterprise would not cost rivers of blood, as if his adversaries would not balance the power and wealth of France through their heroics, determination, love of the patria, and by the most complete and profound disdain for death.

There are men who are indifferent to the fate of the people they govern, there are men elevated to power on the misfortune of their people, who sacrifice them to their ambition, to their pride, or to their capriciousness. There are men who appear destined to be the whip on the people, and who nevertheless, by the grand designs of Providence, are no more than the crucible that inspires the patriotism and grandeur of nations, and all the tyrannies, whatever has been their investment, and their pretext that they invoke through law to exercise despotisms, whatever has been the mask with which they hide or pretend to hide their true face, whatever has been the epoch in which they appear, always the people take from their terrible reign lessons that are never forgotten and that drive humanity toward progress, and that are, to say it clearly, the lighthouses that mark the rocky shores that appear in the march of the people

Napoleon had sent Mexico the seed of tyranny, which was planted here by his marshals and watered with the blood of martyrs to the nation, but instead of germinating as was hoped, the man of Dec. 2 [Napoleon’s coronation day] produced a tree of liberty.

The fifth of May was the prologue to the grand story of the second war of independence.

The Berkeley Organizing Congregation for Action (BOCA) will partner with the First Congregational Church of Berkeley Saturday to deconstruct myths, fears and assumptions about immigration.

Open to all community members, the teach-in will specifically target First Congregational Church (United Church of the Christ) members who are interested in the New Sanctuary Movement, which aims to raise awareness about the injustices of the current immigration policy.

“We want to create awareness about immigrants, legal or undocumented,” said BOCA lead organizer Belen Pulido. “A lot of people in Berkeley are pro-immigrant, but most of them are ignorant about little things. The general impression is immigrants don’t pay taxes and they reap benefits like health care and food stamps. But the truth is the majority of immigrants do pay taxes, and they don’t necessarily reap benefits.”

The event includes an interactive historical overview of immigration policy in the United States and testimony from a local Hispanic family, at least one of whose members is currently facing deportation.

First Congregational Church Minister of Community Life Adam Blons said the church was exploring the possibility of joining the New Sanctuary Movement and housing a family within its premises.

“Saturday’s event will help us understand where we are today in terms of immigration policy in the United States,” he said. “It will show us how policies affect individuals in our community.”

Churches across the country whose congregations believe basic human rights of immigrants are being violated have adopted the New Sanctuary Movement.

As part of the movement, these churches host a family they believe has been unjustly prosecuted and provide it with legal services to fight its case in court.

“An important part of the movement is to create awareness about the current immigration policy,” Blons said.

Immigration rights attorney Mark Silverman—who provides consultation to BOCA members—will also be present on Saturday to answer questions on immigration.

“We and other people have learned that you can’t do immigration reform by only organizing immigrants,” Silverman said. “Immigrants marched for their rights two years ago, and they will march again on Thursday (today). Non-immigrants need to be involved as well. We need to listen to their doubts and concerns. They are the voters, they are the ones who can bring about immigration reform.”

Immigration teach-in at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way (848-3696, www.fccb.org), Saturday, May 3, 1-4 p.m. Childcare is available for ages 2-10 by calling 848-3696 ext. 26.

A series of clever “parks in a bottle” designed and created by landscape architecture students is part of the Berkeley park centennial exhibit in the Addison Street Windows through May 17.

“The people want public parks where we can all go, and be free.” One hundred years ago in late April, 1908, that was the sentiment at a meeting where voters gathered to urge the passage of bonds to purchase undeveloped land for public park use in north Berkeley.

Berkeley dates the origins of its public park system to that same era, when another property—what is now San Pablo Park, in southwest Berkeley—came into public ownership as a result of a real estate subdivision in that area.

This Saturday, May 3, almost exactly 100 years later, Berkeley citizens are invited to gather again to look to the future of local public parks, as well as celebrate the achievements of the past century.

The occasion is a free public event in Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park downtown.

The program grew out of the work of two UC landscape architecture faculty members, Louise Mozingo and Marsha McNally who collaborated with one of their graduate students, Sadie Mitchell, on a study of the evolution of Berkeley’s park system.

Last fall they put together an exhibit and event, “The Legacy of Berkeley Parks: A Century of Planning and Making” at the Berkeley Art Center (described in the Nov. 27, 2007 issue of the Planet).

The exhibit boards are now on display downtown in the Addison Street Windows on Addison Street, across from the Berkeley Repertory Theater.

Saturday’s “Day in the Park” event is sort of an outdoor town hall, built around a sequence of brief public comments by more than two dozen individuals involved with Berkeley parks. It looks to the future more than the past.

“The format will be reminiscent of the Free Speech Movement—for 10 minutes each speaker will have a soapbox and a mike,” the organizers say. Members of the public are encouraged to bring a picnic—or get a snack at the adjacent Berkeley Farmers’ Market—and take in all or part of the program.

Each speaker has been invited to talk in their own way about Berkeley’s parks, particularly “the next big steps.”

“We believe it is time to look for the next vision,” say organizers Mozingo, McNally, Mitchell and Hayley Diamond, another landscape architecture graduate student working on the program.

Invitees range from past City park department heads including Frank Haeg and Lisa Caronna, to former elected officials including Shirley Dean and Fred Collignon, UC faculty, and private and public sector landscape architects. Some have been working on local parks issues for four decades.

Also speaking are several individuals who have been leaders in community groups creating, maintaining, and/or popularizing Berkeley parks and open space, including creek advocates Carole Schemmerling and Susan Schwartz, community garden organizer Beebo Thurman, and Aquatic Park angel Mark Liolios.

The event also features bluegrass music at mid-day. There’s a competition, with cash prizes, in which participants are invited to “paint a park on a Chinese takeout box.” Judging of the impromptu illustrations will be at 3:30 p.m.

It will all take place next to the always lively and busy Berkeley Farmers Market on Center Street, between the park and the Veteran’s Memorial Building.

Introductions and speakers start at 10 a.m., pause at noon for lunch, and resume at 1 p.m. The scheduled speakers finish at 3 p.m.

There’s an “open mic” period from 3:00—3:30 when participants not on the formal agenda can have their turn, and the event closes at 4 p.m.

If you can’t attend the event you can still drop by the exhibit, which is viewable from the sidewalk in front of 2018 Addison St. through May 17, then moves to the Central Berkeley Public Library for display, starting May 27.

Organizing Berkeley’s park history into distinctive eras, the exhibit includes maps showing the evolution of the park system.

A whimsical adjunct to the formal exhibit is a display of “parks in a bottle” created by students in Landscape Architecture 136, taught by Chip Sullivan.

“Response has been wildly enthusiastic and positive” to both the exhibit and the program Saturday, McNally says. “We hope to create a summary of the ideas proposed on May 3 and send it to the Parks and Recreation Department as well as the City Manager’s office.”

Although the event organizers are soliciting broad and eclectic ideas, they also have their own thoughts about Berkeley parks, crystallizing out of their study of local park history.

Berkeley should think in terms of “connecting the parks—think of the whole city as a park—make the streets become part of the system,” McNally says. Mitchell also wrote her masters thesis on this concept—“street-as-connecting-park.”

Importantly, and as our research makes clear, the citizen and political leadership in Berkeley has never rested on its laurels but is always looking for the next improvements. We hope our event could spur some of that thinking.”

Mozingo points to Seattle, Portland, and Chicago as “other American cities we can learn from.” Seattle has a strong emphasis on planning for urban agriculture and food security, and “some pretty darn good parks.”

“Portland is committed to making every bit of open space operate as part of storm water remediation,” and “Chicago has a venerable tradition of neighborhood parks and is one of the few cities that still has a very robust system of recreation leaders.”

And what of our local tradition, and those proposed park bonds a century ago?

Bond supporters made a passionate pitch, presciently predicting a population boom in the East Bay and ever increasing needs for open space.

“We even of this generation will live to see … a solid habitation along the bay shore north to Carquinez straits,” said P.W. Rochester, of the Chamber of Commerce, at an election eve rally for the bonds.

“We must have breathing spaces interspersed in this solid mass of habitations to meet the exigencies of 20, 30, 40 or 100 years from now. It should be our pleasure and glory to provide for those who follow.”

The bonds won a majority, but failed to capture the necessary two-thirds approval of Berkeley voters.

The area that would have been purchased—the so called “Indian Burial Grounds” in north Berkeley—was largely privatized as the Thousand Oaks residential subdivision. Park advocates were discouraged.

But, as the exhibit shows, their spirit survived and thrives today, a century later.

Steven Finacom is a local writer and historian, and will be one of the speakers at the Saturday program.

“The Legacy of Berkeley Parks”, exhibit through May 17 in the Addison Street Windows, south side of Addison Street between Milvia Street and Shattuck Avenue. Re-opening May 27, Central Berkeley Public Library.

Saturday, May 31: Talk on the history and legacy of Berkeley parks, by Professor Louise Mozingo, paired with a talk by historian Gray Brechin on the Works Progress Administration legacy in Berkeley. Central Berkeley Public Library, Kittredge west of Shattuck, 2 p.m. Free.

Campus police are looking for two different groups of young men who harassed and sexually groped young women last weekend.

In the first incident, a band of seven or eight men in their late teens and early 20s approached two women, ages 18 and 19, as they were walking east on Channing Way near Bowditch Street at about 9:30 p.m. Friday, April 25.

According to a UC Police Department bulletin, “One of the group members walked up to one of the victims and touched her inappropriately. A second group member walked up to another victim and also grabbed her inappropriately. Then the second suspect punched one of the victims on the left side of her face.”

Neither woman was seriously injured during the incident, police said.

The victims said their assailants were last seen walking northbound on Bowditch.

An area search by campus police failed to turn up any sign of the suspects.

In the second incident, a swarm of 14 young men harassed seven young women who had parked along Grizzly Peak Boulevard in the pre-dawn hours on Sunday, April 27, campus police reported.

Police received word of the incident at 2:25 a.m., about an hour after the incident had occurred.

The women told officers they had been parked near Signpost 15 near the rock wall when two vehicles pulled up, one of them a 1993 blue Ford van.

At that point, the 14 males, all about 20 years old, poured out of the two vehicles and walked up to the women.

After one of the males asked for a cigarette, the women refused and, they told police, decided to leave.

But when they started to get into their cars, two of the women reported that they were sexually groped, and one of the males threatened to shoot the women.

Campus police have asked anyone with information about either incident to call their office at 642-0472 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., or after hours at 642-6760.

If the City Council gives its OK, the UC Berkeley College Republicans may have a parking space of their own on Shattuck Avenue on Wednesday afternoons, directly across the street from the Code Pink anti-war, anti-recruitment demonstrations in front of the Marine Recruiting Center

“We are against them [Code Pink]—they are against the recruiters,” Kimberly Wagner, activism chair for the Berkeley College Republicans told the Planet Wednesday.

“The permits given to Code Pink are not permits you can apply for,” she said, noting she had asked the mayor to help obtain permits, but he had refused.

(The mayor did not return a Planet phone call before deadline.)

She said she then went to Councilmember Kriss Worthington for help.

On Jan. 29, the City Council voted to waive sound permit fees for Code Pink and allow them a parking space for six months to demonstrate Wednesdays from noon to 4 p.m. in front of 64 Shattuck Square.

Worthington, who opposes the war, told the Planet he has no choice but to support the request, as it is a question of equity.

But Zanne Joi of Code Pink told the Planet that, while she supports the College Republicans’ right to protest, Code Pink was accorded the parking space because the group is in sync with the city’s consistent pro-peace positions and because, without the parking space, the numerous Code Pink demonstrators would block the sidewalk.

“The council determined we should have a parking space because this is a city of peace,” Joi said, “It’s not a city of war.”

Moreover, she said, there are generally only two or three College Republicans who regularly come out to counter-demonstrate against Code Pink—not enough people to warrant the need for additional space for a demonstration.

Wagner, a freshman from Fullerton studying political science, told the Planet Wednesday that the Young Republicans were going ahead with their request for a parking space. In an April 25 e-mail to Worthington, she had written that they wanted to circulate a petition asking the council “to remove Code Pink from within a one mile radius of the recruitment center, with the goal of alleviating the disturbances to the surrounding businesses.”

The petition idea came about, she said, when they realized that by the time they had the permit it would be summer break: “Most of us would not be here.” But Wagner told the Planet that at this point “the petition is on hold.”

Members of the Housing Advisory Commission (HAC) on Thursday will look at efforts to rehabilitate the low-income housing building located just across the street from People’s Park.

Affordable Housing Associates (AHA) owns the 18-unit building at 2500 Hillegass Ave., where two tenants have complained that their apartment was left without heating for more than two years.

A recent visit to the building by a reporter also found evidence of mold growing beneath the first floor, and turned up complaints that gravel poured into hallways from the ceiling during rainstorms.

AHA has owned the building since May, 2001, according to a report prepared for Thursday’s meeting by city Community Development Project Coordinator Lourdes Chang.

The city spurred the acquisition, Chang reports, because the units “were at risk of converting to market rate.”

The building provides a dozen units for tenants in the federally established very low- and low-income categories, with the remainder reserved for those in the moderate category.

Federal policy defines very low-income as a household earning less than 50 percent of the area median income (AMI), with low-income pegged at 50 to 80 percent of AMI and moderate income set at between 80 and 115 percent of AMI. The income figures are calculated for each Statistical Area, a population cluster defined by the Census Bureau.

Two long-time tenants, Grace Christie and Jill Hutchby, told HAC members they had been without heat for three years, despite repeated complaints to AHA.

The problem turned out to be a switch inside the thermostat which had not been turned on. “They told us we couldn’t open the thermostat,” Hutchby said.

“They sent their people here twice, and Pacific Gas and Electric came out twice, but it was only the last time they found the thermostat switch had been set at ‘off’,” she said.

“We’d been sleeping in sleeping bags” because of the cold, Christie said.

Christie said she was also concerned about the building’s security because the doors to balconies don’t have locks.

In her report, Chang said AHA will be seeking money for the city’s Housing Trust Fund to conduct more extensive renovations at the Hillegass building.

“To leverage city funds, AHA will apply for low-income housing tax credits, tax-exempt bond financing and other available housing funds,” she reported, with a goal of $400,000 to $800,000. AHA has already spent $300,000 on maintenance, upgrades and repairs.

Because of tax credit rules, funding from that program won’t be available until late next year or early 2010.

Proposed work includes an upgraded electrical system with solar panels to power the building’s common areas, renovations to the garage area, including additional laundry space, fire escape repairs, repair or replacement of fire escapes, new cabinetry and hardware where needed in kitchens and bathrooms, installation of electric baseboard heaters in all units, new tile for all apartments and any needed upgrades for disabled access.

Thursday night’s meeting will also include possible action on a recommendation to the City Council seeking the transfer of $1 million in general fund revenues to the Housing Trust Fund, and discussions of city density bonus and condominium conversion ordinance proposals.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. at Ashby Avenue.

An early Monday evening running gun battle left one man critically injured and police searching for a lime green car which had struck several cars during an exchange of gunfire with a pedestrian.

The dramatic shootout happened on Whitney Street, between 59th and 60th Streets, and apparently concluded just doors away from the 59th Street home where a North Oakland man shot a burglar last week after he broke a front door window.

Shattered bits of headlights and colored plastic littered Whitney Street, and a battered Honda Accord LX stood immobile on the street, bearing traces of the pale green paint left by the car used in the shooting.

The neighborhood has seen a rash of violence in recent months, including two fatal shootings last fall and a fusillade of gunfire discharged into the air in the parking lot of a tavern on Shattuck Avenue just south of the 59th Street intersection two weeks ago, said one neighbor.

In Tuesday night’s shooting, “the car hit several parked cars—including totaling the car of the owner of the house on Whitney that nearly burned down last Christmas,” reported one Whitney Street resident in an e-mail to neighbors.

Another neighbor said that the suspect apparently tried to hide in yards in the neighborhood, finally ending up at the intersection of 59th and McCall streets, where he collapsed on the pavement.

A third neighbor, who declined to speak for attribution, said Tuesday night’s incident was “really terrifying.”

Police blocked off the street for an hour after the incident, and City Councilmember Jane Brunner came by to talk to neighbors, said Bob Brokl, a neighborhood resident. Brunner is facing opposition in her bid for reelection from 59th Street resident Patrick McCullough—who gained fame after he shot a 15-year-old in the arm three years ago.

McCullough was not charged in that incident, in which he told police he had fired at the youth after he had been surrounded by 15 young men in his front yard who had been yelling “Kill the snitch” because of his campaign against neighborhood drug dealing.

The council candidate said he had fired after the teenager told a companion, “Get me the pistol.”

An Oakland Police spokesperson said he would contact the investigating officer and provide more information about the incident later.

The earlier shooting, which happened April 22, occurred in the block west of Shattuck after a resident heard the sounds of breaking glass and found Nathan Cooper, 31, breaking in through the front door.

Police said the resident told them he fired because he thought Cooper was attacking with a weapon. Cooper managed to stagger to the same parking lot where the shots had been fired a week earlier.

He was taken to the hospital in serious condition, and later charged with burglary.

The Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) at its meeting Thursday will hear a presentation on landmarked UC Berkeley campus projects which are in their planning phase.

The university’s Principal Planner of Capital Projects-Facilities Services Jennifer McDougall will brief the board on several projects, including the Bowles Hall Renovation Study, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and the Hearst Gymnasium Historic Structure Report and Pending Programming Study.

The university invited architects to submit applications to renovate the locally and nationally landmarked eight-story, 205-bed Bowles Hall, a male residence hall, in October.

Located between the Greek Theatre and Rimway Road, east of the central UC Berkeley campus, the reinforced concrete building was built in 1928 in the style of Norman architecture.

Although a report prepared by the university describes the building as structurally sound, it lists numerous deficiencies which need to be addressed.

Architect Toyo Ito’s conceptual plans for a new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive at the northwest corner of Center and Oxford streets include a visual arts complex to house the university’s art and film collections, and a public gathering place to replace the existing seismically unsafe museum and film archive on Bancroft Way.

The $145 million rectangular structure, with gently sloping angular walls and small patios, has received mixed reviews from the community, with some comparing it to “Tupperware” and others raving about its unique style.

University officials are in the early phase of fundraising for the project, which is scheduled for completion in 2013.

Both the film archive and the art museum on Bancroft Way will stay open during construction.

Fidelity Savings building renovation

The LPC will vote on whether to approve a use permit for plans to rehabilitate and alter the landmarked Fidelity Savings building on 2323 Shattuck Ave.

The board will review a design approved by the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board in September, which proposes to preserve the existing 4,000-square-foot structure and convert the two-story bank space into a restaurant and a dwelling unit.

The development includes a new five-story building, to be built in place of the existing three-story building adjacent to the historic bank building, which would have 2,609 square feet of commercial floor area and 15 dwelling units.

The project proposal includes sidewalk seating and would eliminate the eight existing on-site parking spots.

The project plan submitted by Prasad and Rani Lakireddy has been changed since the last zoning meeting to replace a mansard roof with a terra-cotta-tiled shed roof. The revised plan cannot appear before ZAB until it is approved by the landmarks commission.

Revised historic resources map and footnotes for DAPAC Plan

The LPC will also vote on whether to endorse a revised map and footnotes documenting “historic resources and opportunity sites” for the use of the Downtown Area Planning And Advisory Committee (DAPAC).

The city’s planning department staff revised the map and narrative to make it consistent with a map created by independent planner John English to reflect decisions of the DAPAC-LPC Subcommittee which met last fall.

If boardmembers approve the materials, they will be included in all future distributions of the draft Downtown Area Plan with DAPAC’s endorsement.

Complaints about inconsistencies between the map originally submitted by city staff and DAPAC’s recommendations resulting in the staff’s working with English to correct the flaws.

A survey of downtown historical resources will be conducted in the future to help clarify errors in the map.

The state Senate Environmental Quality Committee unanimously passed a resolution yesterday (Monday) calling for a moratorium on aerial spraying for the light brown apple moth (LBAM) until the state agriculture department “can demonstrate that the pheromone compound it intends to use is both safe to humans and effective at eradicating the light brown apple moth.”

The resolution, SCR 87, authored by Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco and Marin County, next goes to the Senate Agriculture Committee.

While the resolution is simply advisory to the governor, if eventually passed by both houses of the state legislature, “it becomes a tool for public pressure for people in power,” said Nan Wishner, chair of the Albany Integrated Pest Management Task Force, speaking to the Daily Planet today.

“It will be harder for people in power to hide behind the furniture,” she added.

Wishner said she was especially impressed by the testimony before the committee by Derrell Chambers, a retired U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologist, who said he does not support the proposed spraying of the LBAM with a synthetic pheromone, aimed at disrupting mating behavior. The pheromone and other ingredients are put into microcapsules and dispersed by low-flying airplanes.

“No eradication of a pest species with only mating disruption has ever been accomplished,” Chambers told the committee, quoted in a Pesticide Watch advisory. Chambers statement contradicts the California Department of Food and Agriculture position, which is that the aerial spraying of a pheromone can eradicate the moth.

“Certainly, the public’s present feeling that they are being subjected to an unwarranted, unsafe, and untested procedure should be more thoroughly addressed than it so far has been,” Chambers told the committee. “I believe the LBAM project should be challenged on all these issues, but I am particularly concerned that the issue of efficacy has not been sufficiently questioned.”

Aerial spraying was conducted in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties in September and was to be resumed in June, however, a Santa Cruz Superior Court decision last week imposed a moratorium on the spraying in Santa Cruz until the environmental impacts are studied. (A similar lawsuit targeting the spraying in Monterey County will be heard May 8.)

Posted Mon., April 28—Campus police are looking for two different groups of young men who harassed and sexually groped young women over the weekend.

In the first incident, a band of seven or eight men in their late teens and early 20s approached two women, ages 18 and 19, as they were walking east on Channing Way near Bowditch Street at about 9:30 p.m. Friday.

According to a UC Police Department bulletin, “One of the group members walked up to one of the victims and touched her inappropriately. A second group member walked up to another victim and also grabbed her inappropriately. Then the second suspect punched one of the victims on the left side of her face.”

Neither woman was seriously injured during the incident, police said.

The victims said their assailants were last seen walking northbound on Bowditch.

An area search by campus police failed to turn up any sign of the suspects. Campus police conducted an area check but did not locate the suspect.

In the second incident, a swarm of 14 young men harassed seven young women who had parked along Grizzly Peak Boulevard in the pre-dawn hours Sunday, campus police report.

Police received word of the incident at 2:25 a.m., about an hour after the incident had occurred.

The women told officers they had been parked near Signpost 15 near the rock wall when two vehicles pulled up, one of them a 1993 blue Ford van.

At that point, the 14 males, all about 20 years old, poured out of the two vehicles and walked up to the women.

After one of the males asked for a cigarette, the women refused and, they told police, decided to leave.

But when they started to get into the cars, two of the women reported that they were sexually groped, and one of the males threatened to shoot the women.

Campus police have asked anyone with information about either incident to call their office at 642-0472 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., or after hours at 642-6760.

Posted Mon., April 28—Three Bay Area marches on May Day—and an eight-hour shutdown of West Coast ports—will merge traditional calls for better pay and benefits with support for the rights of immigrants and a call to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Separate but coordinated Bay Area events are planned:

• Oakland Sin Fronteras (Oakland Without Borders): Participants will gather at 3 p.m. at the Fruitvale BART Plaza, with speakers on the rights of immigrant workers; a march will go down International Boulevard to Oakland City Hall, where a second rally—with elected and union representativeswill be held at 6 p.m.

• “No Peace—No Work” on May Day: Participants will meet at the ILWU Hall at Beach and Masonic in San Francisco and march along the Embarcadero to Justin Herman Plaza where there will be a noon rally;

• Movement for Unconditional Amnesty: At 2 p.m. there will be a rally at Dolores Park in San Francisco followed by a march to Civic Center. At 5 p.m. there will be a rally and music at Civic Center.

• Longshore workers plan to shut down West Coast ports all day.

• A rally will be held in Berkeley at noon at Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley Campus to demand full and equal rights for all immigrants, an increase in under-represented minority student enrollment at UC-Berkeley, the right to financial aid for undocumented immigrants (Dream Act), and the end to the occupation of Iraq.

“They say immigrants are stealing jobs, that the economy is going down because of us,” Manuel Depaz, spokesperson for Oakland Sin Fronteras, told the Planet on Monday. What is true, however, is that immigrants do jobs citizens don’t usually want, such as working in the fields or cleaning hotel rooms, he said.

In Oakland, a number of labor unions have endorsed the march including the SEIU 1877, the Oakland Education Association, United HERE 2850 and AFSCME 3299. The Alameda County Central Labor Council, La Clinica de la Raza, Black Alliance for Justice for Immigrants, and others have also endorsed the march.

Speaking for the immigrant rights march in San Francisco, Alex Franco told the Planet that undocumented immigrant workers pay into Social Security and pay their taxes, but get no benefits returned to them, as workers with documents do.

“Immigrants are workers too,” Franco said, underscoring that the marches are calling for unconditional amnesty for undocumented workers.

Retired Berkeley letter carrier and union activist Dave Welsh has been helping to publicize the marches. Speaking to the Planet, he underscored the cooperation among the sponsoring organizations.

“They each have speakers at each other’s rallies,” he said. Two of them are Cindy Sheehan, anti-war activist and candidate for Congress, and Cynthia McKinney, Green Party presidential candidate.

Endorsers of the ILWU march include the San Francisco and South Bay Central Labor Councils, the California Federation of Teachers, the National Association of Letter Carriers and Grandmothers Against the War and more.

Depaz told the Planet this is a critical time to fight for immigrant rights, with recent raids on work places picking up workers who have lived in the U.S. and paid taxes here for as long as 20 years. When undocumented workers get hurt on the job, they can’t say how they got hurt, he added.

Posted Mon., April 28—A power outage affecting some 300 AT&T phone customers interrupted phone service at a number of Berkeley offices this morning, according to Public Information Officer Mary Kay Clunies-Ross. By 2 p.m. all phones and services were back on line.

Information Technology Department Director Donna LaSala told the Planet that AT&T had been especially responsive during this outage, which was reported by city staff at 8 a.m. “Once we started banging on their doors, we got updates every half hour,” she told the Planet.

“Everybody still has a way to call 911 if there’s an emergency,” Clunies-Ross told the Planet during the outage. “Each location has an analog line.” Only the digital lines were affected, she said, adding that the fire stations have radio backup for emergency purposes.

“It doesn’t have any effect on fire services,” Deputy Fire Chief Gill Dong told the Planet, noting that in addition to radio communication, each fire apparatus is equipped with a cellular phone.

At locations where there are outages, the phone rings and is picked up by an answering device.

Alan Bern of the Berkeley Public Library noted, however, that the library experienced particular problems. People cannot search the catalogues or reserve computers at the West, South and North branch libraries, functions that are done digitally. “It’s a problem,” he told the Planet.

As of noon on Monday, the city offices impacted were: the Public Health Clinic on University Ave., the Animal Shelter on Second Street, the Fire Stations on Eighth and Russell streets and on Shattuck Ave., the police substation on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, the North and South Berkeley Senior Centers, and the West, South and North Branches of the library.

David Lin, AT&T public relations manager, did not return calls for comment.

Posted Mon., April 28—If Mayor Tom Bates and councilmembers Laurie Capitelli and Dona Spring have their way, free evening parking in downtown Berkeley may be a luxury of the past.

Despite negative reaction from downtown neighbors—and the Chamber of Commerce that objected to the idea the following day—the City Council voted last week 6-1-2 to have staff study expanding paid meter hours until 10 p.m. (Councilmember Betty Olds voted in opposition and councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Darryl Moore abstained.)

The plan would apply uniquely to the city’s “pay and display” meters—the large multiple-space meters that take coins and credit cards—which can be set to charge different amounts for different times of the day and to allow people to park for an extended period of time.

At present, meters cost $1.25 each hour. A recent 25 cent per hour hike was put in place to fund various services aimed at curbing inappropriate behavior of homeless or mentally ill people who hang out in commercial shopping areas.

The proposal before the council did not include a specific amount of money to be raised and was imprecise about where the money would be spent: “A portion of the revenues [would be spent on] alternative transit modes and the arts,” said the proposal, signed by Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmembers Laurie Capitelli and Dona Spring.

On Friday Julie Sinai, Bates’ chief of staff told the Planet her office had no further precision to offer on where the funds might be spent.

Capitelli, however, said there were a number of possible ways to spend the money, for example, creating a “free zone,” for AC transit buses, a section within the city where people could ride the bus without cost. The funds generated might also pay the salary of an arts coordinator, he said, underscoring, however, that what he wants immediately is information from the city manager on implementation: “I’m not ready to go ahead,” he said.

Addressing the council before the vote on Tuesday, L.A. Woods, who lives near downtown, said he expects that with the advent of evening meter parking, his neighborhood would be inundated with spill-over parkers.

The councilmembers’ statement provoked an argument about climate change issues: “Berkeley citizens made the bold decision to address climate change and reduce our community’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050,” the document says, noting that “gasoline and diesel consumption by automobiles within the Berkeley city limits accounts for about 47 percent of Berkeley’s total greenhouse gas emissions....”

It goes on to quote Donald Shoup, author of “The High Cost of Parking,” saying “cruising for curb parking generates about 30 percent of the traffic in central business districts.” The proposal claims that higher costs for parking would result in more parking availability, and therefore, cut down on people cruising for parking—and the greenhouse gas emissions.

Doug Buckwald addressed the council on the question, saying the “green” argument was specious. He accused the council of making “green” arguments “without making a direct connection” to the question at hand.

While supporting the city manager' s study of the issue, Councilmember Max Anderson said that the revenue stream in Berkeley should not be addressed piecemeal. "We need to have a focused workshop on what we need to do to enhance revenue," he said, noting that the discussion should include business retention strategies.

Councilmember Darryl Moore, who abstained on the question, said he opposed meter operations in the evening. “I believe it will have a negative impact on business downtown,” he said, noting that parking in Emeryville is just $1 for the evening.

Arguing to the contrary, Councilmember Linda Maio said people don’t mind paying for parking. She noted that “lines to parking garages go down the street” in the evening.

But in a letter to the council, Michael Katz responded to that notion. He said paying for parking at night might work for people spending $50 for a seat at the Berkeley Rep, but, he argued: “Removing free, casual parking keeps away patrons who might otherwise check out a club band, a low-cost theatrical performance, or another low-commitment event, just out of curiosity.”

Bates supported the plan, noting that people use up the parking spaces around the downtown BART station to go to San Francisco. Spring said downtown residents park there overnight.

In an April 25 letter to Bates, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ted Garrett blasted the proposal on several counts: allowing parking for various hours and charging different rates at different times of the day would confuse people; the occasional visitor who gets a hefty parking fine is unlikely to return; people will not use the parking lots in the evening because they feel unsafe; there’s no guarantee where the revenue will be spent and the policy will hurt the city’s efforts to attract and retain business.

• Unanimously denied an appeal for the zoning board’s approval of a biodiesel fuel (used, processed cooking oil) station at 1441 Ashby Ave.;

• Unanimously approved a recommendation that city staff collect data on sources of alcohol in alcohol-involved collisions and DUI arrests;

• Voted to delay until May 6 a vote on a contract with Stockton Recycling Inc. and Zanker Road Resource Management to transport and recycle demolition materials. Councilmembers Betty Olds, Gordon Wozniak and Laurie Capitelli voted in opposition.

• Unanimously voted to oppose the Runner Initiative on the June ballot that would increase funding for criminal justice programs by $500,000,000 annually.

• Unanimously voted to sponsor the annual celebration of Berkeley Conscientious Objectors and War Resisters Day;

• Voted 8-1 to increase the city manager’s authority to implement contracts up to $50,000 without council approval. (The present authority is up to $25,000.) Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring voted in opposition.

Russell Street residents faced off Thursday against their neighbors at the Berkeley Thai Temple, charging them with running a commercial restaurant in a residential neighborhood, bringing litter and congestion to the area, every Sunday.

More than 30 supporters of the temple, located at 1911 Russell St., turned up at Thursday’s Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) meeting to deny the charges and to request a permit to build a new Buddha shrine on the site and add four parking spaces on an adjacent vacant lot.

Applicant Komson Thong also requested the board to approve 10 tables—three with parasols—which would be situated inside a Buddha garden on Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

After listening to complaints from a few neighbors, the zoning board decided to postpone the issue to June 26 and asked city staff to investigate whether the temple was violating the zoning ordinance.

It also asked members of the Thai temple to mediate with its neighbors about parking, hours of operation and other concerns.

Some neighbors were angry that the temple started work as early as 5 a.m., since a 1993 zoning permit limits the use to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The temple serves food to the public outdoors in the back of the property from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday.

Piper Davis, who moved into the house abutting the Thai temple three years ago, complained that the noise of pots and pans clanging to prepare food woke her up early in the morning.

“We want this large scale open air commercial restaurant moved to another location,” said her husband Tom Ruff. “It’s really under-described, and has inflicted significant harm on the community surrounding the Thai temple. We respect the spirit of their mission, but we respectfully object to a large scale commercial restaurant.”

Another neighbor, John W. Taylor, said he had been unable to enjoy his driveway, which was blocked by cars belonging to visitors at the temple every week.

“They need to construct more parking spaces,” he said. “Four parking spaces is like putting your finger in a dike.”

Thong said members of the temple would address neighborhood concerns.

Zoning staff said they had not received any nuisance complaints from neighbors over the last few years about the temple’s operations, but that they would investigate in light of recent concerns expressed at the meeting.

According to the zoning staff report, the temple offers food to its visitors as typical of Thai customs, in return for which they ask for donations.

1819 Fifth St.

The zoning board also approved a 22-unit three story mixed-use project totaling 20,820 square feet at 1819 Fifth St. Thursday, despite opposition from its next-door neighbor, the East Bay Vivarium.

Owen Maercks, who owns the Vivarium, said the proposed development—which provides 22 parking spaces—would push the business out of Berkeley.

“When we came here 20 years ago, there was a parking problem,” Maercks said. “We have been losing business over the years but parking is worse than ever today. A 22-unit project will be the final straw.”

Applicant Tim Rempel said the vivarium—housed in a 7,500 lot—should provide 15 to 20 parking spots for its customers, instead of the current 5.

“I think it’s a valuable business, but it’s in a building difficult to have a business out of. Our project is modest and sustainable.”

After the zoning board objected to the scale and density of the proposed mixed-use project last year, Rempel scaled it down to a height which met with approval from boardmembers Thursday.

“The new project is much more compatible,” said board member Terry Doran. “The issue of parking is not going to go away, whether this particular project is prevented or not. Existing businesses will have to co-exist with new businesses.”

Zoning vice-chair Bob Allen stressed the importance of the City Council and the planning department addressing neighborhood parking concerns.

Berkeley Unified School District PTA members made their district proud when they formed the largest contingent at the “Flunk the Budget” California State PTA rally in Sacramento Thursday.

More than 100 parents and community members took two buses and 10 cars to the state capital Thursday morning to protest against proposed state education budget cuts and lobby legislators to increase revenue.

They were joined on the State Capitol steps by their peers from Riverside, San Diego, Los Angeles, Alameda and several other cities in sending the message “Flunk the Budget, Not our Children,” to legislators.

“It was very inspirational,” said Berkeley PTA Council President Cathryn Bruno, who helped mobilize the Sacramento trip. “We urged legislators to increase tax revenue by reinstating the vehicle license fee, closing the Yacht Tax loophole and introducing a progressive tax. Education is the basis of democracy, people in Sacramento need to understand that.”

California State PTA spokesperson Lindsay Shoemaker told the Planet that 400 people from 12 PTA districts statewide had joined in the rally.

“California’s future depends on our governor and state legislators doing the right thing and investing more in our children, not less,” state PTA President Pam Brady said at the rally.

Brady called on the governor and legislators to solve the state’s budget crisis with a balanced approach.

Fifteen of the 18 school districts in Alameda County face negative certification as a result of the proposed cuts.

Although Berkeley Unified was successful is rescinding the pink slips issued to 46 of 55 teachers, it still faces a $3.2 million budget cut—which would affect after school programs, among others.

“What the rally shows is there is somewhat of a coalition, a united effort on the part of the school district, parents and unions to stop the cuts from happening,” School Board President John Selawsky told the Planet.

Selawsky said he met with three Republican aides in Sacramento after the rally who had informed him Republican legislators had agreed not to suspend the former Prop. 98—a voter-approved statute that established a minimum level of funding for California schools—as the governor proposes.

“If that’s true that’s very good,” said Selawsky.

School districts across the state are getting ready for a bigger student rally in Sacramento on May 15 to protest the proposed cuts.

Oakland Police officers confer on the Shattuck Avenue sidewalk in the aftermath of a shooting at a 59th Street home when a resident reportedly shot and seriously wounded an intruder Tuesday morning.

Oakland Police are investigating a Tuesday morning shooting in which neighbors say a North Oakland man shot an intruder breaking into his 59th Street home.

The injured man, who had staggered up to Shattuck Avenue and collapsed near Dorsey’s Locker, a tavern at 5817 Shattuck Ave., was rushed to Highland Hospital for treatment of a serious gunshot wound, police said.

The incident was first reported to police around 8 a.m.

Oakland Police Sgt. Michael Polirier said the injured man, Nathan Cooper, 31, of Oakland, was on both probation and parole from previous convictions, including a narcotics arrest.

“Burglary tools were found at the scene, and he was charged with burglary” as a result of the incident, Polirier said.

The man who fired the shot, a resident of a home in the 600 block of 59th Street, was questioned by police investigators Tuesday, then released pending a review of the case by the Alameda County District Attorney’s office.

“Right now, we’re just trying to determine whether the shooting was justified or not justified,” said Officer John Koster Tuesday morning as he stood next to the police tape that had sealed off the block of 59th between Shattuck Avenue and Whitney Street.

Bob Brokl, a neighbor, said the intruder “was shot at the door as he was breaking into the house.”

Polirier, who is also the Oakland department’s chief of staff, said the resident of the home “heard a commotion on the front porch. He went and found that someone was trying to break in” and had smashed the window in the door.

The resident “armed himself and shot the intruder, who fled,” Polirier said.

Ron Butier, who owns the house, said he was at work at the time of the shooting and declined to discuss the specifics of the shooting, which was done by his housemate.

“There have been a lot of crimes in this neighborhood and people are feeling on their own, and they’ve been talking about taking matters into their own hands.”

Annie, a neighbor who lives a block south on 58th Street, said there was a fatal shooting on her block only three months ago.

“He got shot in the middle of the block and staggered up to Shattuck before he collapsed and died,” she said.

Sgt. Polirier said that police dispatchers received two calls at nearly the same time, one reporting that a man had collapsed on the street in the 5900 block of Shattuck and the second from the resident of the 59th Street home, “who said he had just shot a burglar.”

The 59th Street resident told police he had fired because he thought the intruder was brandishing a weapon.

Annie said she knew the neighbor who had shot the intruder. “He’s a real nice guy. He has some nice things, and this isn’t the first time they’ve tried to break into his house. There are lots of break-ins in the neighborhood, and all the neighbors are trying to help. We’re all single people in studio apartments,” she said.

“There are shootings all the time,” Butier said. “We hear gunshots all the time.”

The scene of Tuesday morning’s shooting was just four doors down the street from the home of another North Oakland resident who figured in the shooting of a suspected criminal in 2005.

Patrick McCullough shot a 15-year-old in the arm in the neighborhood where he had been waging a campaign against drug dealers that neighbors said had been plaguing the neighborhood.

McCullough, who is now running for the North Oakland City Council seat against three-term incumbent Jane Brunner, told officers he had been surrounded by 15 young men in his front yard, who had yelled “Kill the snitch.”

McCullough told police he shot the youth after another young man had told his companion, “Give me the pistol.”

The Alameda County District Attorney’s office declined to prosecute McCullough at the urging of police. No charges were filed in that incident.

The courts and the governor took independent actions Thursday that resulted—at least temporarily—in stopping the planned aerial and ground spraying for the light brown apple moth.

The court ruling came at around 10:30 a.m. in Santa Cruz Superior Court, where Judge Paul Burdick ruled that the state must prepare an environmental impact report on the danger of the moth before spraying can be carried out in Santa Cruz County.

Also on Thursday Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger met with Marin County officials and anti-spray advocate Paul Schramski of Pesticide Watch and promised that the spraying won’t take place until a battery of tests has been completed.

Lori Ciosfi, of California Alliance to Stop the Spray in Santa Cruz, told the Planet in a phone interview from the courtroom Thursday that the judge ruled that, given there was no crop loss resulting from the moth, the moth had not created a state of emergency.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture argued that it has the right to spray without an EIR because the moth presents potential crop devastation and should be considered an emergency.

“The judge made the decision right there, after hearing arguments from both sides, to stop the ground and aerial spray,” Ciosfi said. “It was really exciting.”

Ciosfi said the judge ruled that the supposition that there might be crop loss was insufficient to declare an emergency. There has been no actual crop loss.

The ruling applies only to Santa Cruz County and was brought by Santa Cruz County against the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

The ruling will likely delay a planned aerial spraying in Santa Cruz County that had been slated to begin June 1.

In a prepared statement CDFA Secretary A. G. Kawamura promised to appeal: “My department will aggressively seek an expedited appeal of this ruling, which threatens the safety of our agriculture, environment, and economy. The light brown apple moth is a serious threat not just to Santa Cruz but to the entire state, and the method we are using is the safest, most progressive eradication program available.”

A similar lawsuit demanding an EIR before spraying, brought by Helping Our Peninsula’s Environment (HOPE) and targeting Monterey County, will be heard May 8.

Both Santa Cruz and Monterey counties were sprayed in September with Checkmate, a pesticide that consists of a synthetic pheromone, intended to disrupt the LBAM’s mating behavior and other known and unknown chemicals. It is dispersed aerially in microcapsules.

Many spray opponents say the chemicals in the spray and the microcapsules themselves caused health problems after the September spray.

Asked how the ruling might impact the state’s plan to spray Bay Area cities in August to disrupt the mating patterns of the moth, Oakland attorney Steve Volker said that while he has yet to read the judge’s ruling, it is his belief that the lawsuit’s likely to have little impact on the Bay Area cities set to be sprayed in August.

That is because the state has begun an EIR and will likely complete it by the time it plans to spray the Bay Area in August, he said. He further noted that that the EIR is likely to be similar to previous studies coming from the state, such as a health report that denied the 600 health complaints after the September spraying in the Santa Cruz area were related to the spraying.

The CDFA “attempts to snow the public,” Volker said.

Volker intends to file a lawsuit in federal district court in about a month, naming the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency as defendants as well as naming the CDFA as defendant in California Superior Court.

He said he will argue that the moth has been misclassified as a pest, given the likelihood—according to Jim Casey, an entomologist at UC Davis—that the moth has been established in California for 30 to 50 years without causing crop damage. The lawsuits will be filed on behalf of the North Coast Rivers Alliance and other nonprofit organizations, he said.

While a number of cities, including Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville, El Cerrito and Oakland, have talked about suing the state over the LBAM spray, none have asked to join this lawsuit.

Volker said he believes the sudden excitement around the LBAM may have been artificially created by the makers of the pesticide used to eradicate the moth—Suterra of Bend, Oregon.

As for the governor’s move to delay spraying by testing first, Nan Wishner, chair of Albany’s Integrated Pest Management Task Force, e-mailed the Planet: “Looks to me like the safety testing is all acute tests, meaning 30-minute exposure, so this would be no more testng than was done of the pesticide sprayed last fall—i.e., it would still mean there would be no long-term human exposure testing only short-term acute exposure. And it is not clear whether the tests ... would be only of the active ingredient ... or of the whole formula of the pesticide.”

In a prepared statement, the governor said, “I am confident that the additional tests will reassure Californians that we are taking the safest, most progressive approach to ridding our state of this very real threat to our agriculture, environment and economy.”

The Berkeley City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to postpone the public hearing on the Berkeley city attorney’s draft sunshine ordinance—which promises greater access to local government—to October and granted a 90-day extension to complete their work to the citizens’ group working on an alternate draft.

The citizens’ group had requested a postponement of the public hearing at the council’s agenda committee meeting last week, but the committee refused the request at the time. However, the full council agreed this week to a motion by councilmember Laurie Capitelli to grant the postponement.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Bates said he felt the need to clarify his position on the ordinance drafting process.

Community members and some council members had complained the city was rushing to establish an ordinance because it was campaign season, and the mayor wanted to list the sunshine ordinance under his accomplishments.

“The issue of a sunshine ordinance has been in front of the City Council since 2001, since before I was even in office,” Bates said. “There are some accusations that I asked the public to form a committee to draft a sunshine ordinance and that now I am preventing them from completing their work.”

The city has been working on a sunshine ordinance since 2001, when at the request of Councilmember Kriss Worthington, the City Council asked the city manager’s office to look into improving the city’s sunshine policies, including the adoption of an ordinance.

A review of the council’s March 20 work session records, Bates said, confirmed that the council had discussed various options to address legitimate concerns and differences of opinion raised by the four workshop panelists—Californians Aware General Counsel Terry Francke, Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville League of Women Voters President Jinky Gardner, American Civil Liberties Union Police Practices Policy Director Mark Schlosberg and Northern California Society of Professional Journalists member and Planet staff reporter Judith Scherr.

According to Bates, the ideas included asking Francke and Schlosberg to work with the city attorney to develop a list of policy issues and options for council consideration, forming a citizen subcommittee to help them, and asking the League to sponsor a committee forum on a Saturday or Sunday.

“None of these suggestions were moved or passed,” Bates said. “The final approved motion was to table the sunshine ordinance for action and have the city manager and mayor return with a process for moving forward.”

A review of the March 20 council meeting recording by the Planet revealed that Scherr had stressed the importance of having an expert such as Francke involved in drafting an ordinance—something the mayor agreed with but did not formally make a motion about at the end of the work session.

The city manager returned to council on May 8, Bates said, with the recommendation to develop a matrix of policy issues and recommendations and to post it online for public comment.

A matrix identifying issues raised by Francke, Schlosberg, Scherr, SuperBOLD and councilmember Kriss Worthington had been posted online by the city attorney in October 2007, he said. The matrix can be viewed on the city’s website.

“The city attorney provided this document to the above-mentioned people and received no comment from them,” Bates said. “The document remained open for public comment on the city's website through March 2008.”

Bates said the city attorney’s office contacted Francke in late March to inform him that the sunshine ordinance had been posted online for the last six months and that comments on it would be presented to Council on April 22.

“In that call—made in March of this year—the assistant city attorney [Sarah Reynoso] learned from Mr. Francke that there was a group of people working on an alternative ordinance and that he was not at liberty to tell her who they were,” he said. “Mr. Francke told her that he did not represent the group and therefore could not give her comments on what was posted on the web. This group is self-appointed since neither I nor the council ever decided to set up a citizen group to write an alternative ordinance without the involvement of our city staff.”

Bates said that on April 2, the group sent him and the council a letter asking for a delay so they could complete their more extensive sunshine ordinance proposal.

“Instead of this group providing comments and talking with staff to work out the issues, they printed their issues in the local paper today,” Bates said, referring to the April 22 publication of a commentary article the citizens’ group sent the Daily Planet. “Not much advance notice for any of us.”

In the commentary, the citizens’ group stated that “sunshine-obstructionists, led by Mayor Bates,” were promoting “a weak, so-called sunshine ordinance in an effort to preempt” the group’s proposal. “In reality, their bill is more of a sunset ordinance—an ineffective proposal with no enforcement provisions, only masquerading as sunshine,” the commentary said.

Bates said at the meeting that he wanted to see a list of the disputed policy issues and options the council could consider.

“I appreciate the commitment and the time this group has devoted to this issue over the years,” he said.

Dean Metzger, who spoke on behalf of the citizens’ group, said he had been under the impression that the mayor had asked the League of Women Voters to form a group.

“We met because the League sent out an e-mail,” he said. “We didn’t do anything in secret. We thought you had asked to form a group.”

Capitelli’s motion—which was unanimously approved by council—asked the citizens’ group to get its final draft together by the end of July, before council breaks for summer.

“I am going to call it the Ad Hoc Sunshine Committee, since their members are probably secret,” he said, at which around 10 members from the citizens’ group promptly stood up to prove him wrong.

The six-week summer recess, Capitelli said, would provide council adequate time to review the document. He added that alternate perspectives from the citizens’ group and city staff on the draft ordinance should be presented.

Berkeley voters are more likely to approve a bond measure on the November ballot that supports watershed management and clean stormwater issues, but few would be willing to shell out their hard-earned dollars for a new skate park. And they’d be more willing to add a $50 item to their tax burden than a $150 item.

That’s some of what the City Council learned from a voter survey taken mid-April by David Binder Research of San Francisco. Councilmembers discussed the survey at a workshop on Tuesday.

All the tax measures that would appear on the ballot, because they are designated for specific purposes, would have to receive a two-thirds vote.

Councilmember Darryl Moore, whose Southwest Berkeley district floods when it rains hard, told the Planet Thursday that he was pleased that it looked like people would vote for the watershed bond.

"Water rolls downhill – businesses have been flooded," he said, promising to "fight vigorously" for the measure’s passage.

Shannon Alper of Binder Research said a vigorous campaign could raise the affirmative vote by as much as 10 percent. He added, however, that "in the November election, it’s tough to get the voters’ attention."

When the 600 people surveyed were asked whether they would vote for a measure to increase the city parcel tax by $50 per year to improve flood control and water quality and repair deteriorated storm drainage systems, 59 percent of the respondents said they would and 6 percent said they were undecided, but "leaned" toward "yes."

Jo An Cook of One Warm Pool was less celebratory. The survey revealed that, asked whether they would support a bond to rebuild the therapeutic warm pool and renovate three existing pools at a cost of $30 per year for the average homeowner—one with a 1,900-square-foot home assessed at $300,000—only 43 percent said yes, with another 7 percent leaning toward the affirmative.

"I know that the survey doesn’t look good," she told the Planet on Thursday. On the bright side, however, she pointed to a separate survey question, which asked what people thought about constructing a heated therapy pool: 72 percent said they approved, if one includes the 24 percent that "slightly" agreed, she said.

Cook, 73, further conceded that mounting a vigorous campaign would be a challenge to the elderly and disabled warm-pool users. They would need the help of the advocates for neighborhood pool repair, she said. She said she continues to hope that the council will place the issue on the ballot.

The survey pointed to other issues important to voters: library renovations, improving disaster preparedness, emergency medical services, pedestrian safety, youth workforce training and eliminating rotating fire station closures. The survey showed, however, that two-thirds of the voters polled were not prepared to support any of them.

The council asked staff to come back May 6 with a proposal for a second survey that would give the council more information on what the community would be willing to support. "If we put on two measures, that’s all" the voters will pass, Councilmember Betty Olds said.

Staff had wanted council to be prepared May 6 to vote on which measures they want to place on the ballot, but several councilmembers indicated that they would want more time.

Councilmembers said they fear that if too many issues appear before the voters, the electorate will choose none.

Four years ago, voters shot down bond measures after a vigorous campaign by the anti-tax group BASTA (Berkeleyans Against Soaring Taxes). Barbara Gilbert, who works with BASTA and the Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations, told the Planet Thursday that people do not want more taxes.

"I feel the city wastes money," she said, noting a 14 percent salary increase recently given police and fire over the next four-year period.

"There have been terrible land-use decisions," she added. "The city has subsidized developers." Gilbert added that many of the existing taxes include an automatic 2 percent yearly increase.

Alper told the council that the survey further indicated that combining various items into an omnibus measure is not advisable.

The City Council adoption Tuesday around midnight of an ordinance that would add open-space and parking regulations in all commercial-area development, a preemptive strike against possible fallout from the passage of Proposition 98, was a disappointment to some West Berkeley residents who hoped to see the passage of a competing ordinance—one that would have limited building heights along San Pablo Avenue.

While the adoption of a competing ordinance would have meant the possibility of limiting heights to three stories (plus a bonus story) along San Pablo Avenue, the approved staff-written ordinance keeps heights along San Pablo as they are now zoned, allowing four stories plus one bonus story according to Planning Commissioner Gene Poschman. Poschman noted that in other commercial areas, heights are already restricted to three stories plus one bonus story.

Adoption of the staff version of the ordinance is a loss for the community, Housing Advisory Commission Chair Jesse Arreguin told the Planet Wednesday. “It really was a battle over the livability of West Berkeley,” Arreguin said, referring to the height issue.

Prop. 98 will appear on the June 3 ballot. Initiated by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, it is described as preventing government from using the power of eminent domain to take private property in many instances and as prohibiting other government actions that could reduce the value of property to its owners. Critics say the proposition is vague, as many of its tenets will face interpretation by the courts.

If voters approve Prop. 98, it will likely to become more difficult or impossible to change zoning regulations. That is why the density bonus issue came to council on Tuesday rather than in the fall, as the Planning Commission had projected.

In an 8-1 vote, with Councilmember Betty Olds voting in opposition, the council approved an ordinance, written by Planning Department staff, intended to regulate projects that are built under California’s density bonus law, a law that allows developers to increase the size of their project in return for a public benefit, such as including affordable housing units in a project.

If Prop. 98 passes, the courts may interpret the law to say that limitations placed on developers, including the regulation of zoning, constitute a “taking” of private property. The council passed the staff-drafted ordinance—and will have a special meeting May 1 for its second reading—in order to have new development rules in place before the possible adoption of the proposition.

A competing ordinance, written almost two years ago by a subcommittee made up of members of the Planning, Housing and Zoning commissions, was defeated 2-1-6, with Councilmembers Dona Spring and Kriss Worthingon voting in favor of the measure. They said the staff-written ordinance does not go far enough in protecting neighborhoods adjacent to commercial corridors. Mayor Tom Bates opposed the joint-subcommittee ordinance. Others abstained. The proposal failed since it did not win the necessary five votes.

Arguing for the joint subcommittee ordinance, Councilmember Dona Spring said, “This gives us more flexibility; it gives us more options.”

If Prop. 98 fails, the ordinance will sunset and the Planning Commission will present a new draft ordinance to the council in the fall.

Precisely how Prop. 98, if it passes, will affect developers using the state’s density bonus laws and the city’s ability to regulate zoning will likely become clear only after the courts have ruled on specific cases. Opponents have fielded a much simpler measure, Proposition 99, which supporters say limits the use of eminent domain against single family homes but does little else.

The subcommittee ordinance would have allowed only three stories, which could be exceeded with a use permit.

“I think the staff recommendation will result in big boxes,” West Berkeley resident Toni Mester told the council, calling for support of the committee’s recommendation.

Speaking for Wareham Development, a large landowner/developer in Emeryville and West Berkeley, some of whose undeveloped property fronts on San Pablo Avenue, Chris Barlow faulted the subcommittee’s ordinance for the increased need of use permits and for “uncertainty.”

He also said he disliked the regulations in the staff ordinance, but called them the “lesser of two evils.” Developer Ali Kashani of Memar Properties, which is proposing a large development at the corner of Ashby and San Pablo, called on the council to approve neither option, as did Erin Rhoades, chair of Liveable Berkeley and the wife of Kashani’s partner Mark Rhoades, until recently the city of Berkeley’s Director of Current Planning.

Requirements in the approved ordinance that will impact all the commercial corridor development include:

• transition setbacks—a minimum of 10 feet where a development on a commercial corridor abuts a residential district;

• setbacks on upper stories—first and second stories will be 10 feet from an abutting residence, the second and third floors would be set back a minimum of 15 feet and the fourth story set back 30 feet from an abutting residence;

• open space—75 percent of the required open space can be on the roof;

• parking—10 percent of the required parking spaces must be at grade. (This amended the original staff version that said 25 percent must be at grade.)

Community members turned the heat up a notch on Pacific Steel Casting Tuesday when Berkeley lawyer Tim Rumberger filed a class-action nuisance lawsuit against the foundry on behalf of thousands of West Berkeley neighbors.

The lawsuit—filed in the Superior Court of Alameda County—names Pacific Steel neighbor Rosie Lee Evans as the lead plaintiff. It seeks an injunction requiring the foundry to reduce “off-site toxic emissions impact to safe levels or relocate from this neighborhood,” and demands a compensation to “the thousands of neighbors affected daily by the noxious odors and toxins.”

“It will proceed and we will go to court and that’s about it,” she said Tuesday.

The class-action complaints against the foundry include negligence, trespass, public and private nuisance, intentional misrepresentation and unlawful business practices.

“Rosie lives in the shadow of the plant,” Rumberger told the Planet. “She has been poisoned with toxic fumes and hazardous materials from Pacific Steel for a long time.”

He added Evans was a good representation of the neighbors who had lived in the downwind homes surrounding the three industrial plants off Second Street in Berkeley for a six-month period during the last three years, as mandated by law to qualify as part of the class.

Evans, who has lived in the neighborhood for 47 years, said she has smelt burnt copper for a long time.

“It was something stinky, sometimes it’s hard to describe the smell,” she said. “But it made me cough really bad. It was only when I talked to my other neighbors that I believed it was coming from Pacific Steel.”

Evans said she believed her husband’s dry cough and her grandchild’s asthma have been caused by fumes from Pacific Steel

“I don’t know how many residents make up the class,” Rumberger said. “I have been consulting with many of the neighbors for almost a year now and doing research. We wanted to get the science right. For a long time people have believed they were being poisoned but the plant denies it and has said the emissions are from the freeway. But the neighbors are ready to fight it. It’s our burden to prove that the chemicals are coming from Pacific Steel.”

The lawsuit provides scientific air sampling data collected over a six-month period from near the Second Street-based foundry by Global Community Monitoring under a grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

The test results show evidence of manganese and nickel concentrations hundreds of times higher than deemed safe by the World Health Organization.

Jewel told the Planet in an earlier interview it was impossible to tie the outcome of the test to one source.

A recent report by Global Community Monitor on grassroots action monitoring toxic pollution names Berkeley as one of the worst polluted cities in the world based on the Pacific Steel air monitoring project case study.

“The city and the air district have failed the people miserably in West Berkeley and have caved in to the threats of Pacific Steel Casting again,” said Denny Larson of Global Community Monitor. “So it’s time to take the issue to court and to the streets to seek justice until the health of the neighbors is really protected.”

Several hundred Pacific Steel workers turned up at a Berkeley City Council meeting in February to protest Councilmember Linda Maio’s proposal to declare the West Berkeley-based foundry a “public nuisance” and refer it to the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board for odor abatement.

The council voted unanimously to enter into an agreement with Pacific Steel to cut odor and emissions within a specific timeline.

Pacific Steel Casting’s appeal of a small claims court decision which went against the company in November and awarded $35,000 in damages to a group of West Berkeley neighbors who sued the foundry for loss of use and enjoyment of their property and mental distress began last week .

Rumberger’s class action lawsuit also charges Pacific Steel for emotional distress and fear of adverse health consequences caused by what it claims to be “exposure to harmful and offensive emissions or odors, fumes and articulate matter,” caused by the foundry’s negligent conduct.

The lawsuit asks the court to mandate that Pacific Steel to maintain records of all complaints, claims or emission reports and to install and maintain continuous 24-hour fence line monitors which would transmit emissions to a public web site.

It also urges the formation of an independent Pacific Steel neighborhood organization to address resident concerns.

Pacific Steel agreed in a settlement of a lawsuit by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to install a $2 million carbon absorption unit on Plant 3 to reduce emissions and odor last year.

It also settled a suit from Communities for a Better Environment by agreeing to install an air filtration system.

A 21-year-old Emeryville man died and two people were injured in a spectacular crash on Interstate 80 at Ashby Avenue early Wednesday.

California Highway Patrol Officer Sam Morgan said the accident happened about 12:07 a.m. when a 1993 BMW 525 lost control as it headed eastbound on the freeway.

“The car hydroplaned across the lanes,” said the officer, and was struck on the

driver’s side by a 2003 Toyota Tacoma pickup driven by a 34-year-old El Cerrito

man, which caused it to spin in a clockwise direction.

The BMW was then struck on the passenger side by a 2006 Ford, driven by a 49-year-old Alameda man, and his car was rear-ended, in turn, by a 2003 Acura driven by a 28-year-old Richmond woman.

Berkeley Deputy Fire Chief Gil Dong said firefighters had to use mechanical equipment to remove the injured passenger from the BMW, 21-year-old Eric Anthony Fernandez, who was later pronounced dead at Highland Hospital.

Berkeley paramedics transported three people to Highland. The driver of the BMW was also hospitalized for treatment of moderate injuries, Morgan said, and the driver of the Acura was treated at the hospital for minor injuries.

“All of them were wearing their belt restraints,” Morgan said.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation, he said, though rain and wind may have been contributory factors.

The Daily Planet sat down with the four candidates in the California Assembly District 14 race recently and asked their views on various issues. The Daily Planet will reproduce portions of their responses in upcoming issues, beginning this week with the issue of health care.

Last year, two different pieces of legislation were introduced in Sacramento to change California’s health insurance system. One was a packet of legislation by Senator Sheila Kuehl of Santa Moncia, SB840/SB1014, the so-called single-payer packet, in which California would have set up a system of universal health care, similar to what is present in Canada and the United Kingdom.

The second was the coalition package (AB8/ABX) that originally began with an alliance between Senate President Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, eventually including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Perata ultimately withdrew his support from it after the projected budget deficits were announced.

The AD14 candidates were asked how they would have voted on both of these legislative packages, as well as what their own health care legislative goals would be if they won the Democratic nomination in June and were elected to the legislature next November.

Phil Polakoff, Berkeley physician

I want to quote what I heard last night, listening to Barack Obama, “the urgency of now.” What I want to do in California is the “urgency of now,” what is needed now, and what is needed to do a structural overhaul of the entire health care delivery system. It’s not just saying we need single payer, we need to reform health care completely. We need to have the conversation. And we have to have all the stakeholders at the table. We can’t just have a bill that’s run by the California Nurses Association and blocked by everybody else. Everyone’s going to have to be at the table. And it’s going to have to be both parties. It can’t be just Republicans or Democrats.

If I can accomplish four things, I’d be very satisfied that I made a contribution to the state.

If I can, one, raise the level of involvement of all parties in disease prevention, health promotion, that’ll be a plus. To take on the issue of the rampant nutritional issues that are leading to the increase in obesity and diabetes. To take on the problems of air quality resulting in instances of very elevated rates of asthma. Two, if I could make sure that we legislate that no person is denied health care because of pre-existing condition. That’s doable. Three, if I could deal with the fact that people are having their health insurance taken away after they have catastrophic illness. That would be a success. Four, if I could make the state better prepared for any sort of emergency, so if there’s an earthquake, or if there’s a pandemic flu, that we’re better prepared.

We’re not going to solve all these problems, but if we can make the people of California healthier, better prepared from a major assault, whether it’s deliberate or non-deliberate. The emergency rooms are ill-prepared to take on a major problem. Those are the four major things.

There’s no lack of energy put into the reform effort last year. It just wasn’t done correctly. You can have a lot of action, but last year I don’t think the action was in a way that would get specific goals accomplished. All we have now is an incredibly complex, convoluted, inefficient, frightfully expensive delivery mechanism. If you have the access, and you know where to go, you can get the best treatment in the world. But if you don’t know where to go, you don’t have the access, you don’t have the knowledge, it’s frankly scary to people involved in the process, at any age. I would like to be the point person in reigniting the dialogue, and the conversation.

When I was in the legislature [in the 1980s Polakoff worked as a consultant to the state senate's industrial relations committee on workers’ compensation issues] there was always good politics and good policy that everyone could end up being proud of. AB32, the global warming solution, that’s something I think people are proud about. AB12, childhood nutrition, I think that’s something people are proud about. I don’t think anyone really is proud about AB8, ABX, or these other similar bills as they went through the process. I think people worked very hard. I think there was some positive movement. So if you ask me if I’d be happier if we had accomplished something, yes. It would have been incremental, but we would have made some forward movement. And it could have been amended, and we could have learned from it. Now there’s a demoralization. The forces up there don’t know where the leadership’s coming from. There’s those that believe we can redo SB840, single payer. History hasn’t played well on that. And we don’t have the resources, right now, to do a complete re-do of the entire health system. So we need to work on more incremental steps, with pilot projects.

Nancy Skinner, East Bay Regional Park Director

The current state of health care is that the haves have it, and more than the have-nots do not. And when I say more than the have-nots, I mean that there are many people working 40 hour per week jobs, skilled people, trained people, doing high-quality 40 hour per week jobs, who have no health care. Because their job doesn’t provide it, or they are self-employed and the insurance companies won’t give it to them, either because of pre-existing conditions or because of some other problem. So basically you have this incredible crisis in health care in California. You have up to 7 million without any health care. And then you have a whole separate category of people with, really, inadequate because either their deductible is too high, because it doesn’t cover lots of basic medical needs, or it doesn’t cover dental, for example. So health care is in a complete crisis, and we’ve got to fix it. It’s embarrassing. I don’t even want to use that phrase. It’s immoral, to be the seventh largest economy in the world and to not provide basic human rights.

Single payer is the most efficient method to provide health care for everyone. We should treat it like other basic services. Like fire protection. Like safety and police protection. We pool our resources, we put the funds together, and we provide the service. We should do the same with health care. And that’s basically what single payer is. And we have single payer now in the form of MediCal and MediCare. They still use private doctors and hospitals, so it’s not that you have to have the government run the delivery system. What single payer is, is a mechanism for paying the resources and having employers contribute, employees contribute, state income tax contribute, to provide health care for everyone in the state.

As far as the Perata-Nuñez-Schwarzenegger effort, after it was written, my concern about that bill was that it didn’t go far enough in the process to get the kind of amendments that would have made it acceptable. It could have had the impact of creating a circumstance where employers who now provide health care benefits might drop theirs, because the mechanism that was being put in that bill might have made it cheaper but might not have covered adequately. So then people who otherwise had a pretty decent health care package with their employer might have lost that coverage. My understanding of the bill was that it would have still had some level of coverage, but it might not have been adequate. So there were a lot of aspects of that bill that really, before I could have supported it, would have needed a lot of amendments. And that discussion didn’t really take place, because it got basically pulled. So single payer, basically, is the way to go. It pools resources and provides for everybody.

Clearly, more organizing and development of more support needs to occur to get the political will to enact what is the most cost-effective system. In the meantime, there are other programs that we can expand. In the Healthy Families program, we can raise that so people of a higher income level can qualify. And we can create some mandates on employers to provide health care coverage. It’s still a worthwhile step, if we take some of our largest employers, like WalMart. The fact that they do not provide health benefits is a huge cost to the state. The state is, in effect, then subsidizing WalMart for the fact that they do not provide health benefits for their employees. So mandates like that. And negotiating with the pharmaceutical companies to put caps on the price of those medicines. California could do that.

Tony Thurmond, Richmond City Councilmember

As you know, 7 million Californians are without health insurance. And that is just wrong in a state that has the wealth and resources that we do. We can fix health care. I support single payer. I passed a resolution in our City Council supporting SB840. I work on health care on some basis with youth in Alameda County who are transitioning out of foster care. We provide a clinic for them and we provide some referrals to mental health services. Many of the youth have MediCal, which is awfully underfunded. So the governor wanting to cut the budget in critical areas like MediCal, for a clinic like mine, what we get back for our reimbursement rate is something really low. Probably 30 percent of the actual cost that we put out. We raise grants and contracts. We have contracts with the Alameda County Social Services Agency.

So the governor’s cut threats to social services has a threat not just to MediCal but to the youth population that we serve, who don’t have insurance. Many of them are over 21. After 21, they are no longer eligible for even MediCal. So I think we need a system like single payer. I’ll advocate for that in the legislature. I think we need a system that puts patients over costs. Every dollar that we spend on health care, a big chunk of that money, maybe a third, is going to overhead and administrative costs. I’m going to advocate for a single payer system, and if we need to work towards incremental systems while we’re getting there, getting to a larger system, I will always place emphasis on reducing costs, so that we’re focusing on those who need care.

As far as the Perata-Nuñez bill, I want to preface my remarks that I would have pushed for single payer. That’s from a policy perspective and a personal perspective. My brother, who was 35, passed away in 2004. He lost his job. He lost his insurance. He stopped taking care of himself. He later was diagnosed with a liver disorder that he never knew he had. A very rare liver disorder. I believe that if he had insurance, he would have taken care of himself, and he might still be here today. There’s no guarantee. But I know from experience that people make choices sometimes and not take care of themselves when they’re not sure how to pay for it.

I read a study about cancer. It’s on the rise in the African-American community, where people aren’t going to a doctor because they weren’t sure how they were going to pay for it. That’s why I have the preference for single payer, because I think that when people start making sacrifices that are going to impact their health, we’ve got it all twisted. Having said that, if it’s going to take hard work and long term advocacy to get to single payer, and we need to do this incrementally, I could have supported the Perata-Nuñez bill if it placed emphasis on containing costs. I’ve been an employer and a supervisor for 15 years. And I’ve seen that it is important that employers provide health care for their employees. And I think there should be a greater emphasis on asking the employers to provide health insurance to their employees.

Kriss Worthington, Berkeley City Councilmember

In a country and a state which is supposedly one of the richest and wealthiest countries and states in the world, we have incredible millions of people uninsured. And even ones who are insured are not adequately covered to take care of any kind of serious emergency. So I think many people would say that the health care system is in a state of crisis.

In the long-term, I support a single payer system to totally change the whole structure on the state and national level, for that matter. I guess one of the differences between me and what some of the other candidates say is I am realistic, and even though many moderate Democrats voted for SB840, that doesn’t actually mean that they support single payer and will fight to make it happen. At some of the candidate meetings, some of the candidates talk about SB840 like, oh, we’ve got that, we just need to get a new governor.

Sheila Kuehl is brilliant, having talked the Democrats into voting for it, and making Arnold Schwarzenegger the bad guy to veto it, but in reality, a lot of the Democrats didn’t actually support the companion bill [SB1014] which would have actually made it possible for SB840 to be implemented.

The difference between the two bills (SB840 and SB1014) is sort of like the difference between a proclamation from the City Council saying, “Wow, wow, wow, we think you’re great,” versus an ordinance or legislation actually funding something. So SB840, saying “we like single payer”, got approved. SB1014, the bill that would have actually made it happen, didn’t go anywhere. And there are a lot of Democrats who were against it, which isn’t surprising, given how much money the health care corporations and insurance companies pumped into state assembly and senate campaigns. It’s not shocking. The amazing thing is that [Kuehl’s] such a brilliant organizer that she was able to talk them into voting for the part that she did. But you can’t go to Sacramento in January thinking, well, we’ve got the Democrats on board, we’ve just got to get a new governor and we’ve got to push through single payer, and the public supports us.

The polls actually show that the public wants reform, but when the corporate interests spend their fortunes, as they did on SB2, the Burton one--- The polls show that the public supported that bill, which put more pressure on employers to provide more insurance. Once it got referended--the corporate interests spent enough money to put it on the ballot and referend it--it got voted down. And that wasn’t anything near as ambitious as single payer. So it’s awfully more complicated than some of the candidates let on.

As for the Perata-Nuñez bill, I would have aggressively tried to amend it. I think the state labor federation laid out some of the flaws remaining. In a way, I think my position would have been similar to theirs, in that I would have supported it if was amended. One of the flaws was that you were forcing some of these people to get insurance, but you were not making it so that they could afford the insurance. If you have a law that you have to have insurance and it takes up 50 percent of your income, what good is that law? There weren’t sufficient restrictions built into it. This has to do with the whole nature of how Democrats relate to Schwarzenegger. They cave in to him. But when Democrats have shown a backbone and stood up to Schwarzenegger, they’ve been able to defeat him.

When somebody wants to get something done, you push them to get something decent so that you can vote for it, but not have horrible, unintended consequences. If I were going to be the deciding vote on whether or not AB8 won, I could not have voted against it and made it lose, but I would have been fighting much more aggressively to try to get a series of amendments to it.

The Berkeley Board of Education voted Wednesday to proceed with the South of Bancroft Plan—which calls for the demolition of the nationally landmarked Old Gym to make room for a stadium and 15 new classrooms, with the option of relocating the warm-water pool located inside it to a site on Milvia Street—and approved $1.4 million for Baker Vilar Architects to design the new facilities.

The board had discussed the outcome of a charrette held last month to settle a lawsuit against the Berkeley Unified School District at its April 9 meeting but had not taken any action. Friends Protecting Berkeley’s Resources sued the school district last year for what it called an inadequate environmental impact report on the demolition of the gymnasium and warm-water pool.

The charrette results illustrated adaptive reuse of the Old Gym to meet the school’s academic and physical education needs as identified in the master plan. The district’s Director of Facilities Lew Jones praised charrette participants for their ideas and commitment to Berkeley schools and included their three basic schemes for rehabilitation in his staff report.

The first concept proposed classrooms on the second floor and added a basement to a portion of the Old Gym. The second concept—suggested by community members concerned about maintaining a league-sized football field at the high school—would demolish a part of the building to accommodate the field and convert the north pool into a warm-water pool. The third plan calls for the demolition of the Donahue Gym, constructing classrooms on the first floor and converting the north pool into the warm-water pool.

According to the staff report, although none of the groups focused on preserving the 1936 Chace retrofit—historically the most important concept identified by the district—a majority of it could be preserved in a retrofit.

Warm-water pool users encouraged the board to preserve the Old Gym and the warm pool, citing a recently released city tax survey which shows that voters do not favor a $23 million Pool Improvement bond measure to build a warm water pool, renovate the city’s three existing pools and add youth water play recreational activities.

“A bond is not very encouraging in the present economic time,” said warm pool user Richard Moore.

One Warm Pool Advocacy Group Co-Chair JoAnn Cook waited until the end of the meeting to hear the board’s decision on the master plan.

“Your assistance and advocacy is more important than ever after the disappointing results of the bond survey,” she said.

Board member Joaquin Rivera asked Jones about future plans for the relocation of the warm water pool.

Jones told the board the relocation to the Milvia Street tennis courts, as outlined in the master plan, had not been discussed in great detail.

“It’s not just a district issue,” Rivera said. “We need to talk to the city. We need to make sure before we demolish the Old Gym there is something else.”

The Old Gym is scheduled for demolition around or after spring 2010, district officials said.

School board president John Selawsky mentioned the downtown YMCA and West Campus as alternate locations to the Milvia Street site.

“We need to figure out what’s feasible because it doesn’t seem too promising with the bond,” Rivera said.

The mayor’s office is also exploring ways to convert the Milvia Street tennis courts into a warm pool but have not yet reached an agreement with Berkeley Unified about its use.

The district currently has funding to demolish the Old Gym and to plan the new building, but no money to build it.

Jones said that funding options included state resources or bond measures.

School board opposes aerial spray

The board unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday to oppose the aerial spraying of the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). District officials said the spray zone includes Berkeley public schools and facilities.

A group of parents, teachers and students turned up to speak against the aerial spraying and quoted research about its possible adverse health effects.

“Something about this does not smell right,” said one parent.

The state Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) plan to carry out an aerial spraying program to eradicate the LBAM in nine California counties, including Alameda County, starting this summer.

Native to Australia, the pest can reportedly impact more than 2,000 plant species.

Complaints against the aerial spraying of CheckMate—an encapsulated artificial pheromone product—have been lodged by the cities of Albany, Berkeley and Oakland. The three cities have also adopted resolutions opposing it.

Santa Cruz won its lawsuit against the CDFA for a similar aerial spraying Thursday.

Additionally, five different State Assembly bills—including one from Assemblymember Loni Hancock which lost in committee— would either ban, limit or require additional reviews or authorization before the spraying occurs, especially around urban and residential areas.

The Berkeley Unified School District was able to bring back all its “pink-slipped” classroom teachers Wednesday, after the district rescinded potential layoff notices for 11 multiple-credentialed teachers.

The total number of pink-slipped teachers now stands at nine, a big drop from the 55 who received notices last month in face of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $4.8 billion budget cuts.

Last week, 35 teachers were brought back from possible termination.

“It’s great news,” said Berkeley Federation of Teachers Cathy Campbell. “It’s very exciting to know that all these great recently trained teachers can remain. But we are concerned about the nine art teachers and counselors who are still on the lay-off list. We hope they come back soon.”

The nine teachers who still face possible termination include four art teachers—two at Berkeley High School, one at Willard Middle School and a part-time teacher at Berkeley Arts Magnet—and five counselors, four at the high school and one at Longfellow Middle School.

“It’s important to remember the district still faces a $3.2 million budget cut,” Campbell said. “It means that other things from our schools will be cut.”

Thirty classified employees will receive layoff notices or have their hours of employment reduced in the coming weeks, according to a resolution passed by the Berkeley Board of Education Wednesday.

The district’s Assistant Superintendent Lisa Udell could not be reached for comment.

The list of positions affected by the cuts includes instructional specialists, a school safety officer, a district sous chef and a parent liaison.

District Superintendent Bill Huyett said Wednesday that the district hoped to bring back as many classified employees as possible in the coming months.

Their action followed complaints from south-of-campus residents who complained that the review failed to adequately address area changes in the years since the plan was first drafted.

By the time the session had ended, commissioners had added a 45-day extension to the public comment period on the DEIR, which was prepared by LSA Associates, an Irvine-based consulting firm with offices in Berkeley.

The Southside Plan has been slow in coming, crafted after more than 35 public meetings and drafting sessions between 1997 and 2003.

Though the scoping session for the DEIR was conducted in November 2004, the report was only released this month—a point that raised concerns among some of the neighbors who attended Wednesday night’s hearing.

The first speaker, retired planner and long-time Southside resident John English, opened with a plea to continue the hearing until the commission’s next meeting then immediately faulted the DEIR for failing to consider a significant range of development alternatives.

English said he was also skeptical of the DEIR’s contention that the plan wouldn’t have any significant impacts on the neighborhood, which parallels the southern border of the main UC Berkeley campus and extends to the southern side of Dwight Way.

English said he was also concerned that the document may not have adequately addressed the impacts of the state’s density bonus law, which allows developers to exceed local zoning limits if their projects offer affordable units for lower-income tenants or buyers.

Michael Katz, an area resident who participated in the planning process, said he “would be very grateful” if language addressing major transportation changes stemming from the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), dedicated bus lanes and changes of two existing streets from one-way to two-way were removed from the document.

Katz, who is also active in Berkeleyans for Better Transportation Options, said he was especially concerned because BRT wasn’t on the table when the plan was drafted.

BRT, a plan by AC Transit to create dedicated bus lanes along Telegraph Avenue as part of a transit scheme connecting Berkeley to San Leandro, has generated strong opposition from Telegraph Avenue merchants and residents of nearby neighborhoods, while drawing strong support from mass transit activists.

Roland Peterson, speaking on behalf of the Telegraph Avenue Business Improvement District, said he was strongly opposed to plans to transform Bancroft Way and Durant Avenue into two-way streets, as he opposed BRT-related suggestions to close the upper end of Telegraph to car traffic.

He called proposed mitigations to offset the impacts of transforming the one-way streets “utopian” and “divorced from reality.”

“Keep the streets as they are currently configured,” he urged.

Martha Jones, a veteran of 35 planning sessions, said she has lived on the Southside since 1947, the same year “some idiot in government decided to take these streets and change them to one-way streets.”

Making them two-way streets again, she said, would ease traffic on congested neighborhood streets.

“Please, let’s go back to when we all had brains,” she urged.

“Superficial and negligent,” said Doris Willingham, who charged that the review didn’t adequately address the impacts of major development projects by UC Berkeley.

Sharon Hudson said she was concerned that responsibility for the plan had been given to a newly hired planner, Elizabeth Greene. “It would be nice to be able to talk to somebody at the planning department who has been around for a while,” she said.

It was Hudson who first raised the issue of extending the comment period. She said she was especially concerned about the potential impact of the density bonus on the plan’s projections of future growth.

“Something’s really wrong here,” said Doug Buckwald, another area resident, who called the DEIR “a leftover piece of chaff, an obsolete document which should be discarded.”

“I’m practically in tears,” said Janice Thomas, who lives on Panoramic Hill above the Southside Plan area. She cited a list of major changes that have come down since the plan was created, including those outlined in UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan 2020 (LRDP) and the stadium-area Southeast Campus Integrated Projects (SCIP) as well as BRT.

“At the very least, I hope you will ask for an extension of the public comment period,” she said.

It was commissioner Susan Wengraf who moved to extend the comment period, receiving a second from Gene Poschman.

City Planning and Development Director Dan Marks said the issue for the commission was whether or not the plan’s DEIR adequately evaluated its impacts, adding that discussion of the DEIR was not the same as discussing the plan itself.

“How can we evaluate the EIR when things have happened since that didn’t exist in the plan?” asked Commission Chair James Samuels?

But Marks said the DEIR did take into account the impacts of the new university projects, BRT and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s recently issued LRDP.

“The EIR evaluated everything mentioned this evening,” he said, adding that one reason preparation took so long was because of the lengthy time AC Transit spent coming up with a BRT proposal.

Commissioner Larry Gurley said he was concerned that the plan itself didn’t address subsequently changed conditions, but Judith Malamut, the LSA principal in charge of preparing the DEIR, said the document did take into account “all the individual developments since the plan was prepared.”

Marks said commissioners had the option of deciding whether the DEIR was adequately prepared, and then if they chose to change the plan itself, “we will have to decide whether the EIR adequately addresses” the changes.

In the end, commissioners voted unanimously to add 45 days to the public comment period.

Marks said the planning department would make computer CD versions of the DEIR available for $5 or free for those who couldn’t afford them.

The document is posted online along with the plan itself at www.cityofberkeley.info/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=420.

Downtown Plan

Because of the late hour, commissioners voted to delay deliberations on the proposed economic development section of the Downtown Area Plan, though planner Matt Taecker was given time to discuss how the staff had revised the document prepared by the citizen Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC).

The new plan, mandated in a legal settlement between the city and UC Berkeley, defines the parameters of growth and change in an expanded downtown area.

While Taecker said most of the changes were made to clarify language and eliminate redundancies, at least two DAPAC members who also serve on the Planning Commission were shaking their heads well before he finished.

Proposed revisions to Berkeley’s wireless ordinance ran into opposition Wednesday night both from neighbors, who branded the proposals as weak, and from phone companies, which said they were too strict.

The proposed revisions were up for a public hearing before the Planning Commission, which ultimately decided to continue the deliberations and take more comment during a second hearing on May 28.

“There’s not an urgent need to adopt” the revisions Wednesday night, said Deputy Planning Director Wendy Cosin at the hearing’s start.

Cosin said the revisions before the commission didn’t stem from a legal challenge to the current ordinance.

But the subject of that litigation, the placement of cell-phone antennas on the UC Storage building at 2721 Shattuck Ave., was very much on the minds of many of those who spoke Wednesday.

Verizon Wireless sued the city in U.S. District Court in Oakland in August, charging that the Berkeley City Council and Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) violated the Telecommunications Act of 1996 by denying Verizon permits to mount their antennas on top of the building, which is the tallest in the neighborhood.

The city knuckled under in November, granting Verizon the permits, but the following month Councilmembers directed city staff to prepare revisions to the municipal wireless ordinance.

While federal law specifically bars state and local governments from imposed regulations based on concerns about potential health impacts of electromagnetic radiation from cell antennas, the proposed ordinance would require that companies pay a fee for independent monitoring of the strength of radio frequency emissions from their installations.

Cosin’s written staff report described the changes as “non-substantive,” requiring “minor modifications and aesthetic upgrades to reduce a facility’s size or visibility,” and allowing an over-the-counter administrative use permit for antenna sites in the C-2, M and MM zones (commercial and manufacturing).

The proposal would also eliminate the city’s ability to require cell companies to site their antennas in clusters with those of other companies, eliminate criminal sanctions for violations and end the City Council’s ability to remand appeals of use permits to ZAB.

Cosin said the goal of the revisions was “to ensure an aesthetically pleasing environment and protect the character” of residential neighborhoods while minimizing regulations for areas where installations don’t impact neighborhood character.

The revisions also eliminate references to historical and archaeological resources, which Cosin said are already covered by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance.

But that wasn’t enough to satisfy Steve Ledoux, an attorney for wireless carrier T-Mobile, which, he said, “doesn’t have a horse in this race.”

Nor was it enough for Paul Albritton, the lawyer for Verizon, who said the revised ordinance “seems to have all the defects” and “red tape” pre-empted by federal law.

Michael Barglow of the Berkeley Neighborhood Antenna-Free Union said neighbors want a moratorium on new antenna installations so that a new ordinance can be carefully drafted, a process he said has begun in Irvine and other cities around the state.

He called the proposal before the commission, drafted by Acting City Attorney Zach Cowan, “unacceptable” because it didn’t consider alternatives now being considered in other cities.

To avoid emissions from powerful antennas, he said, the city should look for lower-wattage installations more generally distributed throughout the city, declaring that high-wattage emitters are concentrated in low-income communities.

Commissioner Susan Wengraf asked Barglow if federal law allowed communities to regulate antenna output. He acknowledged that he wasn’t sure whether ordinances could be so specific, and said he didn’t want to suggest that he was asking that all antennas be low-wattage installations.

Kate Bernier said she was concerned because cell antenna emissions were part of a larger array of radiation sources, including microwave ovens and WiFi installations that provide wireless Internet service.

Steve Martinot, a neighbor of the French Hotel on North Shattuck, where another antenna installation is planned, urged the city to adopt a moratorium and, “to whatever extent we can,” to follow the precautionary principle, in which possible sources of adverse impacts must be proved harmless before they can be approved.

As an alternative, he said, the city should opt for more, lower-wattage antennas.

“You guys should always be concerned about the equity issue,” said Sharon Hudson, who also criticized the ordinance for allowing easier permits for commercial areas that house the city’s larger apartment buildings.

Concerns about impacts on single family homes paled in comparison to the larger potential exposures to apartment dwellers, she said.

Verizon lawyer Albritton encouraged commissioners to continue the discussion but argued against a moratorium. He said the difference in impacts between different wattage installations was small, and called the city’s revised ordinance “overly burdensome. The ordinance needs more work, and I urge you to continue to let it happen.”

Albritton cited a Danish study, which he said showed no increased rate of cancer among cell phone users and which examined 450,000 people over a 20-year period. He told commissioners that federal law requires that they rely on the conclusions of “dedicated federal researchers.”

“So the reality is that the federal government is telling us not to be concerned about health issues?” asked commission Chair James Samuels.

Yes, said Albritton, just as the city doesn’t regulate safety standards for airplanes that fly over the city.

“Certain areas of the law are taken as a matter of national interest,” said Albritton, who also stressed that a number of customers are giving up wired phones and opting for wireless alone.

Albritton said phone companies look to lower-power, more closely clustered antenna placement as the number of users increased, and said companies don’t site installations in poor neighborhoods “to serve rich people who live somewhere else.”

Instead he said, companies like to place antennas near the users, which is why many of the first installations locally were along the freeway.

In response to a question from commissioner Patti Dacey, Albritton said the reason there weren’t installations in the Berkeley hills was because of city zoning issues, not because companies didn’t want them there.

But from his seat in the audience, Harvey Sherback remained skeptical: “The cell companies are asking for absolution from legal problems from their radiation. This tells me that the cell-phone companies know something.”

In the end, the commissioners voted to put the issue on hold, at least until May 28.

A private company founded by the head of one of two UC Berkeley programs created to turn plants into fuels for planes, trains and automobiles is launching a commercial venture to turn sugar cane into diesel fuel.

That marks a major shift for the company created by a UC Berkeley scientist who said he wasn’t interest in turning food crops into fuels.

Amyris Technologies, a company founded by UC Berkeley bioengineer Jay Keasling, announced the move Wednesday on PR Newswire, a commercial service companies use to issue press releases.

Amyris is now headed by John Melo, a former executive of the British oil company BP plc., which is sponsoring the $500 million Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), currently housed on the UC Berkeley campus.

Melo was hired at the same time UC Berkeley was applying for the BP grant.

Keasling heads the Joint BioEnergy Institute, based in Emeryville and funded with a $135 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Amyris is headquartered two stories below in the same building.

Keasling and EBI director Chris Somerville, who has developed genetically engineered crops for agroindustrial giant Monsanto, have said on several occasions that their programs weren’t focused on converting crops used for human consumption into fuels.

However Amyris, which gained worldwide attention after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded their program for creating an antimalarial drug with genetically engineered microbes, is now embarked, with Brazilian ethanol producer Crystalsev, on a biodiesel program that he hopes to have running commercially within two years, Melo said in the PR Newswire press release.

Opinion

Editorials

It’s May Day today, a traditional holiday in a wide spectrum of traditions. For the Old Left and much of the rest of the world, it’s a Labor Day, a day for assertive marching and waving red flags. The ILWU and friends are honoring the old-school customs by trying to shut down shipping on the Left Coast to protest the war in Iraq. Pre-left traditions from Olde England were celebrated by gathering baskets of spring flowers to hang anonymously on the doorknobs of sweethearts and friends. Even in my innocent college days first year students left May baskets for favorite seniors—do they still do that, I wonder?

At the offices of the Planet, we’re having our own celebration, of surviving five years of publication and of our new format: now actually daily on the Internet, with print issues in expanded length now once a week on Thursdays. Naysayers thought we wouldn’t last a year. We’re still here, and happy to be here.

But in the words of the Book of Common Prayer, “in the midst of life we are in death.”

This year’s celebration is touched with sadness, since we learned on Tuesday of the death on Sunday of someone who made a major contribution to our ability to succeed in what we were trying to accomplish. That’s not the kind of thing people usually say about the landlord, but Bob Sugimoto, who lived upstairs from our office for most of our five years here, was a very special guy.

He was a proud veteran of World War II. The exploits of Japanese-Americans in Europe in that era are well known, but Bob served in the Pacific. He worked in radio communications, and loved to tell the story of getting out of the service in Los Angeles entitled to educational benefits under the G.I. Bill, seeing a sign somewhere about that new thing, television, and signing up for training. He said he’d had the first television repair business in Berkeley—our building, which he had built, had been his shop, and his family lived in the upstairs apartment. When we moved in, a storage building in the back yard was packed with vintage TVs which he couldn’t bring himself to get rid of.

The first couple of years his beloved wife Keiko lived upstairs too, but she died, quickly and unexpectedly, and Bob missed her sorely. He told us he’d always planned to be the first to go—she was 10 years younger—so it was a shock to be left alone.

But he was tough and independent, so he went on living here alone, walking to the Berkeley Bowl and neighborhood Japanese restaurants. Every year he grew a few vegetables in the neat raised beds in the back yard, mostly tomatoes and beans, which he generously shared with the Planet staff. He said he’d grown up on a California farm, like many Japanese-Americans in the pre-war generation, and agriculture was in his blood. At Christmas and on our anniversaries he’d deliver a nice box of See’s chocolates, contents hand-selected first by Keiko and then by a younger family member. His devoted children and grandchildren came around frequently to check on him, but he enjoyed life on his own until close to the end.

He liked chatting with us, and we liked hearing his stories. He personally took excellent care of our offices. We’ll miss him.

And the same day we got the sad news about Bob we also learned of the death of another good friend of the O’Malley family, someone who was admired and loved both in the Bay Area and around the world. Hal Stein was a terrific saxophone player who’d played with most of the greats in his long career. Friends and fans will be surprised to hear that he was almost eighty, since he always had a lively youthful attitude.

His training was originally classical—he went to Julliard and the Manhattan School of Music—but when he tuned into jazz it became his passion. He was very much a part of the first exciting era of the bebop revolution in New York in the forties, while he was still in high school. He enjoyed a stint in Japan as part of the U.S. Army band during the Korean War. His re-issued records were still big sellers there a few years back, and he did a return tour not too long ago.

He worked in Las Vegas during the heyday of live jazz in night clubs, and when that scene cooled off in the early seventies he moved to the Bay Area. Gigs for jazz musicians here and elsewhere have been shrinking in the last couple of decades, but Hal and his groups played most of the major venues most of the time, and he had occasional tours in Europe, where jazz is still appreciated. In these years he also tapped his great skill as a teacher, launching a number of performers who became major successes.

One of them, vocalist Kim Nalley, is now the proprietor of Jazz at Pearl’s in San Francisco. In an email this week she called Hal Stein “the amazing tenor saxophonist with the most lyrical bebop lines.” She described him as “a handsome man with a winning smile” and said that “he also was a gifted mentor and teacher. As a young girl he would give me lessons for almost nothing and spend hours with me teaching me music.” Hal played at Pearl’s many times in recent years.

When he suspected that lung cancer was finally going to do him in, he organized some house concerts for old friends, featuring musicians he thought had been a bit neglected. He gave his guest artists one set alone, and played a set himself, accompanied by what he called a “brief, homey lecture” on how to listen to jazz.

We went to see him at home during his final illness. He was still making jokes, but was clearly sad because he couldn’t blow any longer, and making music was his life. We asked if he wanted us to do anything for him.

“Well, could you see that the boys in my band get work?” he said. That’s a very tall order, given the parlous condition of jazz venues these days, but we said we’d try our best. His “boys” are some very fine jazz musicians in their own right.

Lee Bloom told us that “Hal was a charming, passionate musician; a gifted improviser and a dedicated teacher who made lots of great jazz and mentored many younger players during his long career. I feel privileged to have been his friend, pianist and collaborator for the past seven-plus years and will miss him terribly.” Others in the Hal Stein Quartet in recent years were John Wiitala on bass and Danny Spencer on drums.

They’re all well worth seeking out. The best tribute to the many wonderful evenings Hal Stein gave the music world would be to carry on his tradition with some of the excellent talent he nurtured in his last decades. Jazz fans and promoters, are you listening?

Like every other Left-of-David-Brooks opinion writer in the country, I’m longing to lay into television journalism in general, ABC’s in particular, and especially George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson for the travesty of an interview show that was wrongly labelled as a presidential primary debate last week.

Bill Ayers? Bill Ayers! Give me a break.

Poor Barack Obama knows so little about the guy that he thinks he’s an English prof, when in fact he’s a Distinguished Professor of Education (that’s a title at his school.) For you younger kids like Barack who don’t remember Bill, he’s the big brother of Rick Ayers, who was a popular Berkeley high teacher for many years. When Bill was even younger than you are today, he was a foolish revolutionary, but he’s been so over that for such a long time.

(Once a long time ago I met Bill Ayers at a party. Someone handed him a smelly cigarette, but before he could inhale another guy slapped it out of his hand, saying “Don’t you know that stuff’s illegal?” Bill just smiled. A cool head, as we used to say. Never saw him again, but I guess I won’t try to run for president with that story in my past.)

It gets harder and harder to have an intelligent conversation about politics in this country, and the networks formerly known as major are no help. Or at least I think that’s true, since our TV died a while back and we haven’t felt the need to get a new one. We must move in rarefied circles, since when we asked around for a place to watch the recent “debate” no one we asked had broadcast TV. Finally someone told me it was possible to use the computer and see it online from the Philadelphia ABC outlet. I’m part of the sandwich generation, disgusted with the old media, but not yet up to speed on the new.

But on Tuesday, election day in Pennsylvania, I even did the split screen thing, watching both MSNBC.com for election returns and the streaming video of the Berkeley City Council. From time to time, I checked nytimes.com and dailykos.com for high-level interpretations of what was happening in the voting booths.

Kos was right from the beginning, predicting the spread within a fraction of a point. The Times reported on election night that HC had made it into the double digits, but backed down the next day to 9-point-something.

The spin doctor wannabees had been attaching big significance to the number of digits, but when the results came up on the cusp that line of analysis was dropped. Watching them in action on the screen got pretty boring pretty quickly.

The meeting of the Berkeley City Council was more appalling than boring. I’m not enough of a masochist to watch the action there very often, and I’m always sorry when I do. If I hadn’t been sitting in front of the computer anyhow, I would certainly have found better things to do.

The council is now officially launched on its annual round of slam-bam-thank-you-ma’m. Here’s how it works.

For most of the year, they indulge themselves by holding infrequent meetings, seldom just a week apart. They take long, long recesses, and they try to hurry home as early as possible, sometimes after meeting for less than three hours of an evening. But between the end of April and the middle of July their agenda is crammed with all the unfinished business they didn’t get to earlier in year.

The more important a topic is, the more likely it is to be discussed late at night and in a hurry. And when it is discussed it’s rare for anyone but Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring to understand what’s going on.

The history of the long-postponed Sunshine Ordinance is a prime example. I have on my computer the .jpg file of a lovely poster announcing a meeting of anyone interested in getting a sunshine ordinance for Berkeley. The date? September 21, 2002. Back in the olden golden B.P. (before planet) era, when I had time for worthwhile civic pursuits like that.

Now, more than five years and one newspaper later, the city of Berkeley still hasn’t gotten around to doing anything about enacting a sunshine ordinance. And judging by their performance on Tuesday, they might never get around to it.

It’s been a full year since it was brought before the council with much fanfare, part of last year’s mad rush to judgement. When I heard that Mayor Bates had claimed at the recent pre-council agenda meeting that no one had ever asked the citizens’ committee to go forward with drafting an ordinance, I looked at the on-line videos of those ancient meetings, and saw the same kind of confused and disorganized process that happened again on Tuesday. The predictable result is that the right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing, so the city attorney’s office was drafting away in blissful ignorance of the citizen effort.

By the time of Tuesday’s council meeting, the mayor’s handlers had realized that his announced plan of bulling ahead with the staff draft regardless of what the public wanted was impolitic, and they’d given him a prepared statement backing off. He read it this time (badly), so that he wouldnn’t mess up again.

But he and Councilmember Capitelli still managed to imply that the citizen’s committee had been meeting behind closed doors (at the League of Women Voter’s office!) in order to keep their deliberations a secret. If that’s the case, it’s strange that all year they’ve been emailing reams and reams of in-progress drafts to a long list of recipients, including the Planet.

The very difficult technical issue of how to write an ordinance to deal with anomalies in the way the city of Berkeley’s zoning intersects with the state’s grant of bonuses for dense construction was subjected to similar slapdash proceedings on Tuesday, this time very late in a long evening. It was clear to the viewer that the council, again excepting Spring and Worthington, had absolutely no idea of what they were voting on, or else that they were being remarkably disingenuous.

Capitelli and Maio shed a few crocodile tears about the plight of those whose small homes on small streets back up to big condos on big streets (think Trader Joe), but then they voted for the plan which didn’t protect those same little guys. Olds introduced the stronger committee-drafted version of the ordinance which the Planning Commission supports, but then proceeded to vote against it, possibly by mistake. All in all, it was not an edifying spectacle.

I learned a few lessons from my viewing experiences of the last week. Broadcast television, even the once-respectable ABC, is now all about sensationalism, not about real news, so there’s little point in watching it. On-line reporting has the potential for being better, but, as in the Pennsylvania primary, too many interpreters are often chasing too little data.

And everyone who can stand it should observe a few council meetings between now and the July start of their long summer vacation. This can be done in many ways. Watch on-line, streaming live or afterwards as videos. Listen to broadcasts on KPFB, 89.3 FM. Watch on cable TV, Channel 33, live or recorded for later viewing. Or even attend in person.

If you do that, you’ll soon conclude that Berkeley needs a new City Council made up of people who are willing to meet each and every week to plug away with all deliberate speed at actually getting the people’s business competently accomplished. Where such heros would come from, of course, is another matter for another day.

Public Comment

The proposal for night parking fees is another one of those “punish us until we are green” proposals. Yes, please, charge us more for less. Purify us. Make us sacrifice until we have saved the earth. Tear down parking lots, and make us pay to park on the streets, then complain that there are lines at the lots that haven’t yet been torn down. Everyone pays, except, of course, Code Pink. (But don’t go overboard, by say, increasing public transit, extending the hours of BART or making rides cheaper, faster, and more convenient.)

We don’t need to go out anyway. We will all sit in our homes and read books written on recycled rags illuminated by ecologically correct low wattage light bulbs. After all patronizing downtown business wastes the earth’s resources. We’ve already said Fairfax to the UC, Berkeley, Cinema, and Act I and 2 movie houses. That probably isn’t enough. Now the city is determined to get rid of the UA, California and Shattuck, the last three downtown theaters, in the interest of increasing empty storefronts in the neighborhood. I don’t suppose this will do a world of good for the live theaters, the Rep and Aurora. The Freight and Salvage may want to reconsider moving downtown.

But we, here in Berkeley are all so virtuous. Unfortunately most of the rest of the world will go watch movies in the malls.

Paul Glusman

•

MASS GROPINGS

Editors, Daily Planet:

Did the police give the media more of a description than just “young males’? If they did, why wasn’t it printed? Who are we looking for?

Peter Bjeldanes

•

‘SECOND HAND ROSE’

Editors, Daily Planet:

Please let Ms. Snodgrass know that the song “Second Hand Rose” was written well before Barbra Streisand was born so she couldn’t have been the inspiration for the song.

Rick Kipp

•

SKATE PARK

Editors, Daily Planet:

I read Mr. Woods column about the skate park and yes, maybe it was a disaster (not his words) but it is what we have. I know it and the surrounding playing fields are also heavily used almost everyday and certainly every weekend. Do I ignore the health issues—almost because what else do we have for the hundreds—if not thousands—of kids and adults who use these parks? Nothing. I wish it were otherwise and we had a fields and open space for our kids but we don’t. Any suggestions we can afford Mr. Wood?

Bill Newton

•

PARKING PERMITS

Editors, Daily Planet:

Once again, the City of Berkeley has sent out notices for residential preferential parking permits without indicating that persons with low income (under $33,500) are entitled to a half-price discount, from $30 reduced to $15. Proof consisting of income tax forms, a photo ID, and a bill indicating your home address (PG&E or AT&T, etc.) must accompany the application whether in person or by mail. When will the city make it routine to add that information to the notices they send out each year? Are they trying to make money on the backs of poor people?

Estelle Jelinek

•

WHY THE OAK GROVE MATTERS

Editors, Daily Planet:

The Memorial Stadium oak grove needs the community to commit to its protection. This struggle is about more than this valuable grove of trees. It is about democracy and the rights of citizens to have a say in their communities. It is about humans evolving to understand that our survival is intertwined with the health of the natural world and it is imperative that we live in accordance with nature. It is about sane, livable neighborhoods and respecting the history of the land and its peoples. It is about saving the headwaters of our watershed from foolish and dire construction.

Dear Strawberry Creek, watershed of the Berkeley campus, who has nourished this land for millennium, calls for our help. There are plans to tear into the future by tearing up these sacred hills. This area declared “An Ecological Study Area,” where live the elderberry and the California towee, the mountain lion and fox, banana slug and sweet cicily, is threatened by plans that we did not vote on.

We must turn the tide of the direction our public university is going. UC should be the front runner in researching how to protect our precious resources and finding alternative sustainable solutions for the public. Instead it is being allowed to run unrestrained and unmonitored into exciting but treacherous technologies without the wisdom of or research into the dangers and downfalls they present. That the nano-technology “molecular foundry” was built without an EIR and runs with little oversight should be alarming to all of us. There are already nano products commercially available without reasonable research into their effects. Highly toxic nano silver is washing out of new nano-socks and into the bay without EBMUD sewage treatment plant operators being aware of it, never mind having the technology to filter it. What effect will this have on the bay and the ocean ecosystems and the bodies of our children?

We must stand now, for life. This is our line in the sand. This grove of oak trees on Strawberry Creek is wiser and more valuable than a foolish building. Oaks are sacred to many peoples. Oak groves represent community, strength and sustenance. They are our elders and teachers. Community has formed around this grove. We have met, many different folks under (and in) these trees, pledging support for their going on.

Hold on, hold on. We shall stand in peace before our elders. To protect them, and to share their wisdom. We shall feel our roots in the land we are on. This struggle is central to our connection to earth and soul. Stand with the trees.

Terri Compost

•

UNFATHOMABLE

Editors, Daily Planet:

My recent observations in South Berkeley only proved to me my suspicion that the leadership in the City of Berkeley makes Bush and Cheney seem like innocent, wayward choirboys.

It seems obvious to me that by authorizing a drug paraphernalia outlet on Ashby Avenue in South Berkeley that the City Council is blatantly pandering to their drug-dealing friends. How is this different than the politics of oil? Let’s just tell it like it is.

I, personally, do not care if people use if they do in a safe and responsible way. What bothers me is the obvious cynicism, corruption, deliberate and blatant neglect leveled on our SouthSide neighborhood by the shortsighted, misanthropic leadership of the City of Berkeley.

One wonders why the city could not support the arrival of, say, a noodle shop, or a bread bakery, or even, perhaps, an establishment that served a tolerable cup of coffee…or at least some establishment that served the whole neighborhood.

John Herbert

•

IHSS IN TURMOIL

Editors, Daily Planet:

Since 1994, I have been on the In-Home Supportive Services program (IHSS) that pays for my overnight care as a result of my physical disability, Cerebral Palsy. For over nine years my IHSS was active in Alameda County.

In 2004, 10 years later, I transferred my case to San Francisco. In November of 2007, my fiancée and I moved back into Alameda County where I was told my IHSS would be transferred back to and until this took place San Francisco would pay for my IHSS.

As of March 31, San Francisco IHSS—after much delay—would not be involved anymore and Alameda would take over effective April 1st. However, I did not see an intake worker until April 14th and as of yet my case is still pending.

My workers have not been paid for a month and I was informed on May 1 that the client rights advocate for IHSS had turned my case over to the director of IHSS who I have been unable to get a hold of. In the IHSS telephone information system, my case has been pending since Nov. 20 and my providers are average people who are proud of what they do for me and they deserve to get paid. If I do not receive my IHSS payment soon, one of my attendants who has been with me for 10 years will be forced to go on unemployment and the other will be forced to look elsewhere for work.

I have spoken to my intake worker once and the client rights advocate on several occasions. After the home visit where I was assessed, I was told that IHSS would enter my information into their system and that my workers would be paid very soon. I wonder how a government agency can get so backed up and so discombobulated that it puts people like me at risk of not being able to do my activities of daily living at risk for bedsores, health and safety issues along with losing great In-Home care attendants who know and understand the severity of my condition. If IHSS is not operating effectively then why do my workers have to go without pay?

Nick Feldman

•

SHAME ON THE CITY OF BERKELEY

Editors, Daily Planet:

It’s almost two months since the March 11 “protest” against the Marine Recruiting Station, and, although the discussion in this and other papers’ letters to the editor sections at the time were full of vitriol, they have faded from the public purview. All is forgotten, all is forgiven?

Not quite. The City Council still has a lot to answer to. They are public servants, and not only is it unacceptable for them to make grand (and empty) ideological gestures without public discussion, it is reprehensible and irresponsible that they apparently never took into consideration the consequences of their vote to “unwelcome” the Marine Recruiting Station.

To make a bad situation worse, they sponsored the “protest” and offered the park directly across from Berkeley High as the venue...on a school day! In case nobody was looking (or asking) this park is really an extension of BHS on school days. And as anyone who has been there at 3:15 can attest, there are kids all over the park and the adjacent streets at that time. Exactly the time that the “protest” was gathering steam. This was already a recipe for trouble. But it doesn’t end there. There were many busloads of pro-war demonstrators already gunning for a fight—men, mostly, who had been ramping up their generalized anger for some hours. They now only needed to focus that anger. Who better to focus it on than kids—that category of being that is really without voice or power. So, the adults began to taunt and threaten the kids as they came out of school and tried to skate at the ledges.

Not to worry, the City Council again had apparently decided on the best plan of action. A full wall of Berkeley Police in riot gear (whose overtime pay cost the city $93,000). These police, however, rather than protect the kids, arrested them.

It was the kids, not the adults, who were arrested. The kids, they say, who were threatening. What, kids just randomly being threatening?

Now, there are some who have not forgotten March 11. They now have records, and have to do public service.

Where is the City Council now? Why did they not for see the severe consequences of the actions they put into play? Why do they not ameliorate the damages by interceding on behalf of those kids so unfairly arrested? The City Council prefers to play in the realm of ideological gestures, not realizing that their “moral high grounding” has had truly violent repercussions on the lives of innocent kids.

Dr. JoAnn Conrad

•

ROBBERIES COMMON IN BERKELEY HILLS

Editors, Daily Planet:

I have been disturbed by the recent reports that armed sidewalk robberies are becoming the norm in the Berkeley hills, especially in the neighborhood surrounding the Graduate Theological Union (GTU). But anyone who has lived or studied there full well knows that people in and around the GTU have been, for years, assaulted by the so called, Margaret Hamilton-like “Berkeley Parking Authority,” whose amply-provided force has assured that even the most minor infraction is duly fined with the infamous $30.00 parking ticket. (As a side note, I am amazed that a city like Berkeley allows for such abuse, and that nobody has organized a city-wide demonstration so far.) At my friend’s place on Oxford street, scores of tow trucks and meter-maid-mobiles line up daily at 3:40 p.m. to begin towing cars parked in a no parking zone beginning at 4:00 (towing at 4:01). It’s not clear why the zone converts to “no parking” as, unlike other cities, a new lane does not open up. It’s just another example of the predatory behavior that extracts dollars from citizen’s pockets.

I find it ironic, but not surprising, that Berkeley can amply staff their minion of parking ticketers, while failing to provide the necessary police coverage that prevents rogue, armed bandits from roaming peaceful neighborhoods and robbing people like seminarians and monks of their meager wages. But then again, the “Parking Authority” has been doing so for years.

Once again we see where the city of Berkeley’s concerns lay.

Rev. John Handley

PhD Student, Graduate Theological Union

Fairfax (Marin County)

•

BUS RAPID TRANSIT

Editors, Daily Planet:

Bruce Wicinas writes that Berkeley should not passively accept the design that AC Transit proposes for Bus Rapid Transit, that a local landscape architect has already produced several alternative designs with exciting new possibilities, that AC needs Berkeley’s help to design a scheme that preserves the downtown environment.

I agree completely, but I am puzzled by Wicinas’ claim that Alan Tobey suggested otherwise. Tobey’s earlier letter simply said that the city has adopted a general policy favoring BRT with exclusive bus lanes on Telegraph Avenue, by unanimous vote of all the councilmembers and of then-mayor Shirley Dean. He never suggested that the city has endorsed a final design. In fact, there is not yet a final design or even a final route proposed for BRT in south campus and downtown. After the Planning Commission chooses a preferred alternative for the route, we can begin to develop a final design for that preferred alternative. At that point, I think it would invaluable to have the sort of collaborative design process that Wicinas suggests to develop the detailed design that is best for Berkeley.

BRT is being adopted by cities around the nation and the world because it is the most cost-effective method of providing better public transportation. Chicago has just approved a BRT plan for that reason - one more major city adopting BRT since my last letter to the Planet. BRT can have the same transportation benefits in Berkeley that it has in other cities, and with the sort of design that Wicinas writes about, it can also give us a more pedestrian-friendly, vital, and economically successful downtown.

Charles Siegel

•

THAI TEMPLE

Editors, Daily Planet:

A bad case of NYMBYitis has infected the neighbors of Berkeley’s Mongkolratanaram Thai Temple.

One neighbor’s reportedly said “I have no complaints. I’d rather have them than Section 8 housing.” What a bigoted thing to say. I guess he doesn’t want “those kind” in Berkeley.

As the president of a non-profit that has low-income apartment project for seniors and the disabled on the Monterey Peninsula, I can truthfully say our Section 8 residents are the best. No wild parties or gang-bangers there.

Larry Hawkins

Seaside

•

NO NEW TAXES

Editors, Daily Planet:

A preliminary review of the City of Berkeley-commissioned Berkeley Voter Survey, geared to elicit positive responses to potential new tax measures, indicates scant local appetite for new taxes. So I hope that Berkeley city officials drop that subject and move on to what voters really seem to want, according to the poll—better city revenue management. In these hard times, the city needs to cut city expenses (fewer staff, recession of new contracts if necessary, fewer bells and whistle programs, fewer developer subsidies) and re-prioritize city spending into what residents really want—effective public safety above all.

A recent article on Berkeley home foreclosures indicates more than 200 homes in the foreclosure system. Prices are declining. It may get much worse before it gets better.

There is a wealth of important census-type data embedded in the Berkeley Voter Survey and the city should engage an independent statistician to put it all together in a useful format. Just two examples of many—there is data on the modest income level of most Berkeley homeowners (average looks about $100,000) and there is evidence that about half of residents with children are not using Berkeley public schools!

So instead of thinking of ways to increase the local tax burden, city and school officials need to engage in a Reality Check on the Real World.

Barbara Gilbert

•

DECEPTIVE MEASURE

Editors, Daily Planet:

On June 3, you will be asked to vote on measure F which re-authorizes, increases, and extends the utility users tax in the unincorporated parts of Alameda County. Many of you reading this live in cities and won’t have to pay the tax and will derive no benefits from it. So, why are you being asked to vote to tax someone else? Because the County Board of Supervisors thinks the tax is more likely to pass if voted on countywide.

The supervisors could have legally restricted the vote to those of us who will pay the tax (10 percent of the county population) but they don’t trust us to pass it. This is unfair, and the supervisors know it.

The measure is also deceptively worded. The supporters promise to spend the money on libraries, sheriff and planning, but the legally binding language of the measure (the fine print) says “ There is no legal obligation that the funds be used for any particular purpose.” This is dishonest. Welcome to politics, Alameda County-style.

Please vote no on F, and make the supervisors create a special district so that we in the unincorporated areas can vote on our own taxes and services.

Steve Rosenberg

Castro Valley

•

UNHOLY ALLIANCE

Editors, Daily Planet:

We, the people of Berkeley, should propose a citizen-initiated proposal to end the unholy alliance between the developers and some of the councilmembers.

This proposal should say, “If a councilmember has accepted money from a business or individual, either directly or indirectly, then he must recuse himself when a matter that would benefit that entity comes before the City Council.”

What is happening is that many developers have purchased some of the councilmembers through generous campaign contributions. Developers themselves, their key employees and their family members contribute “bribes” to the councilmembers campaign funds. In turn, those dishonest councilmembers vote positively on their requests to the city council, instead of recusing themselves.

Legally, the city council often decides these proposals in a “quasi-judicial” capacity. And they should recuse themselves from voting when a matter comes up, but many dishonest councilmembers don’t.

When these dishonest councilmembers vote, they vote to give money to those developers who have purchased those councilmembers. They vote to given the developers money from the low-interest loan-fund, outright grants, zoning change and other goodies that spell M-O-N-E-Y.

Sometime ago. Councilmember Gordon Woziak wrote an article on www.KitchenDemocracy.com expressing his opinion on a permit proposal before the city council. At that time, the then city attorney Manuela Albuquerque advised him to recuse when that matter comes before the city council. And he did recuse. Manuela’s argument was that since the councilmembers are acting in a “quasi-judicial” capacity when deciding on such matters, they must be totally impartial.

At that time, I asked Manuela, “By your logic, councilmembers should also recuse when they accept money from a developer and a matter that gives money to that developer comes before the city council.” Manuela had answered that the Supreme Court had decided that it would not be conflict of interest.

But still the citizens can put forth an initiative that bans such dishonest conduct be councilmembers. So lets discuss this matter publicly and pass such an initiative.

Irshad Alam

•

THE COST OF OIL

Editors, Daily Planet:

As the rising cost of oil continues to punish the consuming population, it is odd that the issue of nationalizing the U.S. oil majors seldom comes up. As a practicing geologist I think that nationalization needs to be put on the agenda.

The U.S. oil majors apparently decided to drive the market as high as possible, short of some psycho-social breaking point due to widespread fraud and petty theft (eg. gas tank siphoning). The OPEC decision to resist U.S. pressure to expand oil extraction, declared that the high prices are a result of U.S. economic mismanagement. The United States is understandably coy—the secretary of state is a former member of the Chevron board of directors. (Senator Biden defended Chevron against China’s higher bid for Unocal).

Consider the consequences of not nationalizing U.S. oil majors. To take one familiar example, Chevron, teaming with (the French oil company) Total, for a Basra oil field, defends the occupation (expecting the U.S. oil majors to get Iraq oil deals out of the Iraqi congress; a prospect abhorrent to the Iraqi population). Chevron’s bloating from recent acquisitions of Texaco and Unocal, only increases its “corporate bullying”; in the Unocal purchase for example Chevron’s CEO O’Reilly claimed at the end of 2005-06, that to buy Unocal, it was necessary that gas prices, around $2 a gallon at the time, needed to rise to $3 a gallon to finance the deal.

The U.S. oil majors have been predicting imminent shortages of oil ever since the 1920s to keep gasoline prices high; (crude in the 1970s was “coming out of our ears”—said USGS Director McKelvey in 1978 before President Carter removed him). These days O’Reilly claims scarcity really is here (his “peak oil” scenario, also disputed by the USGS). The truth may be that the North American land mass, in oil shale, has an oil supply sufficient for centuries. If runaway global warming interferes with the familiar glacial/interglacial cycles it will likely be due to oil abundance.

So I believe an effort should be made to nationalize the U.S. oil majors, with the aim of making oil available in a timely, efficient and predictable fashion.

While I’m looking forward to daily updates from the Daily Planet online, please consider adding an RSS feed to your site to make it easier to keep up with the news and opinion.

Scott Mace

•

PARKING METERS

Editors, Daily Planet:

Reading the item on extending parking meter pay windows to 10 p.m. (“Evening Meter Use Draws Critics”) just makes me more determined to avoid shopping or any other activity involving driving, or not, in Berkeley.

I actually walk a lot in Berkeley, and have (and will again) use a bike here, but I hate with a passion the blatant greed manifested by the Berkeley city government in using parking fees to fatten their bottom line.

Presently, the “meter maids” issue tickets right up to the stroke of 6 p.m., and now have computer assistance to keep them aware of soon-to-expire parking times on those newer computerized meters. Add to that sliding-scale parking rates and extended enforcement hours and you have a recipe for “Welcome to Albany!”

Marshall Stax

•

BRT, WE ARE TOLD,

IS A ‘DONE DEAL’

Editors, Daily Planet:

In a recent letter Alan Tobey argues “BRT was approved by the City Council in 2001. Top bureaucrats, advocacy organizations and city policy endorse it. It’s a done deal. Stop raising questions.”

In 2001 there was no design. I am sure everyone imagined something better than the rather crude scheme which AC began circulating in 2005. City “policy,” co-authored by outspoken automobile-denying zealot citizens, endorsed BRT sight-unseen. BRT is not a concept that may be endorsed in principle, like recycling. It is infrastructure. Its design is a vital consideration.

In 2005 AC Transit energetically showed early plans to whoever would pay attention. Concerned about its potentially devastating impact on the downtown pedestrian environment, a local landscape architect sat down with tracing paper, scale and plans of downtown. In a few hours he produced several alternate deployment schemes for downtown. These showed exciting possibilities, none of them embodied are contained in AC’s plans. They also demonstrated that AC’s “design” is nothing more than a concept diagram. This was the origin of my conviction and my activism on this issue. At the time, Berkeley city officials admitted off the record, “yeah, the city needs to do that stuff.” But the city hasn’t.

And if we say “whatever you wish” to these plans as Mr. Tobey urges—giving cover to the City Council to “approve”—there is no incentive for the city to do it.

AC Transit planners are engineers, not designers, as they frankly declare. Moreover, AC Transit has never attempted the design of a mass transit system, with dedicated lanes, stations and platforms. AC Transit is not a landscape architecture firm. It has no smarts about preserving viability of local business. Its computer models to predict what will happen to the cars cannot fully predict human adaptive behavior. AC Transit needs help with this. And the help has to originate in each locale even though the cities don’t have AC Transit’s design budget. AC Transit can’t help but thrash round clumsily in our downtown and on our Telegraph Avenue. It needs to partner with design consultants who are working for and accountable to Berkeley. In collaboration, AC Transit and our people need to author schemes which preserve the downtown pedestrian environment, avoids killing off Telegraph and Shattuck Avenue businesses, and adequately provides for car and bicycle traffic on Telegraph. Omitting this vital step is unthinkable.

Do you think it will happen if we are silent, giving it premature endorsement?

Bruce Wicinas

•

LET’S NOT BE FOOLED

BY RAPID BLUS PLUS

Editors, Daily Planet:

Opponents of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) for Telegraph Avenue and downtown have been proposing an alternative they claim to be “just as good, cheaper, and without the negative impacts” of BRT. They call this “Rapid Bus Plus,” and propose it as an improvement on today’s “regular” 1R Rapid Bus service through the addition of a proof-of-payment (POP) ticketing system and “bulbouts” (sidewalk widenings) at the stops. “Rapid Bus Plus” stops short of BRT by omitting dedicated lanes for the service, a feature which is critical to creating a transit system that can compete with the private automobile in speed, efficiency, and reliability.

The term “Rapid Bus Plus” is an ad hoc term created by Berkeleyans for Better Transit Options (BBTOP), a citizens’ group opposed to BRT with dedicated lanes on Telegraph Avenue. A Google search for “Rapid Bus Plus” comes up with links to Berkeley or the AC Transit BRT proposal—and nothing else.

This confirms the truth: Rapid Bus Plus is a diversion created by BRT opponents and is never among the well-studied options considered by transit professionals. In contrast, more than 25 US cities have already implemented or are in the process of implementing a full BRT project that includes dedicated lanes to keep buses from being entangled in ordinary traffic.

If any city anywhere is implementing Rapid Bus Plus, we would welcome the information so that we can all learn from the experience.

Len Conly

•

A PROPOSAL

Editors, Daily Planet:

I think the proposal to generate additional revenue by charging for parking at meters in downtown Berkeley during nighttime hours is very short sighted. First of all, this will be the death knoll for many downtown businesses, including restaurants and movie theaters. It is already difficult to park in downtown Berkeley. I, as well as many people I know, avoid this area “like a plague,” whenever possible, when there are so many other options for restaurant dining and movie viewing, that have free and accessible parking nearby. This is also a negative way to generate revenue. It will make people angry, will reduce the nighttime visitors to this area, and have a negative impact on businesses that stay open during evening hours.

Instead, why not put a positive spin on gaining additional income by making it fun as well as profitable? For example, how about creating the first ever annual Traffic Circle Design Contest? The city could ask local businesses to donate prizes such as a dinner for two, or a pair of movie tickets to downtown businesses.

Prizes could run the gamut from:

1. Best Dressed Traffic Circle.

2. Most Creative Design.

3. Most Imaginative.

4. Most Colorful.

5. Greenest.

6. And so forth.

You could charge individuals and block associations, let’s say, $10, per category, per submission, and encourage them to submit as many ideas and or existing designs or photos for each category to be included in the competition.

This will be followed up by the judging of the ideas and designs and then the first ever, Traffic Circle Annual Awards Ceremony, to be held in MLK Park, on a Saturday afternoon, next to the Farmers Market. Now, wouldn’t that be fun? And generate revenue? And make people excited about donating money to the City of Berkeley?

Chandra Hauptman

•

IN DEFENSE OF

BICYCLE TRAILERS

Editors, Daily Planet:

What a difference in perspective! Amanda Duisman (Letters, April 22) wants to ban bicycle trailers because she thinks they are unsafe for small children, while I bought one, in part, because I thought it would be safer than carrying a child on the back of my bike. I will not try to convince her of this here, as I am afraid she will then just want to ban both.

If we ban activities for people’s own good, where do we stop? Baby strollers? Kids on bikes? Pedestrians?

Do we ignore social justice? Not everybody owns a car. What about the health aspects of exercise? Driven everywhere, our kids become obese, and are prone to early onset diabetes and heart problems.

Most motor vehicles have safety systems, but nonetheless, 87 percent of people killed by motor vehicles are occupants of the vehicles themselves, while less than 2 percent of those killed are cyclists. Increasing the number of cyclists (or even pedestrians) by a little bit will increase their exposure to cars, but if you increase their number enough to significantly decrease vehicular traffic it should actually reduce the total number of fatalities.

I have saved the perhaps most significant issue for last. Motor vehicles are major contributors to global climate change. What value is the supposed safety of transporting our children by car if by doing so we destroy the future for their children?

Robert Clear

•

ALSO IN DEFENSE OF

BICYCLE TRAILERS

Editors, Daily Planet:

Dear me. Let me see if I get this straight. Having a child wear a helmet, or putting a flag on your bike trailer, proves that you know it’s dangerous to take the kid with you. By this logic, shouldn’t those of us who used child seats before the law required them have kept our children out of cars altogether, since we evidently were aware of the risks? One in 100 Americans dies in an auto accident, but no one suggests that children should not be transported in cars.

What the odds are for a child in a bike cart is hard to determine, since there aren’t that many out there as yet, but I imagine parents bike more carefully than most people, which is to say that they probably have fewer accidents than average. (Could be that’s also true of parents driving cars.)

Like the writers, I am old enough to be a grandmother, though so far not lucky enough. Over 25 years ago, I was hauling my kids by bicycle cart, and we all lived to tell the tale. They said they enjoyed riding with me on errands and to daycare. If they were traumatized, it’s had an odd result—both are bike riders, and our daughter is a part owner of Pedal Express, Berkeley’s bike messenger service. Should she ever bless us with a descendent, I hope and expect she’ll bring the child to visit us by bicycle.

I don’t mean to minimize the danger to children from cars. But that danger peaks when, inevitably, they get old enough to walk, bike, and eventually drive, without adult supervision. The way to improve their odds is to crack down on speeding, red light running, and violations of pedestrian right-of-way.

Ann Sieck

•

STILL MORE IN DEFENSE OF

BICYCLE TRAILERS

Editors, Daily Planet:

I just wanted to comment on the child safety concerns raised about bicycle trailers. A previous letter objected to these trailers and favored child seats that can be mounted on the bicycle. While there isn’t a perfect, 100 percent risk-proof way to carry a child with you on a bicycle ride (any more than in a car), I believe that under most circumstances a trailer is safer than a mounted seat.

When a seat is mounted on the bike, it affects the center of gravity of the bike, and makes it less stable and more difficult to control. If the worst happens, and the bicycle falls over, the child will go with it—and have no protection from the road, or other obstacles he or she might fall into.

A trailer, on the other hand, is stable independent of the bike. It doesn’t affect the center of gravity, and minimally affects the handling of the bike. If the bicycle and rider fall over, many trailers will not—they are attached by a pivot specifically to guard against flipping over. They also have a seatbelt and a structure that protect the child if anything does hit the trailer.

For this reason, I have felt comfortable taking my four-month-old with us on bicycle outings in his trailer. Because he’s so little, to give him added protection and to make sure his head doesn’t get jostled too much, I have used his car seat inside the trailer. We don’t take him into heavy traffic: most of Shattuck Avenue is definitely not a very safe route for bikes with kid trailers, just because there are so many cars—but there are lots of “bicycle boulevards” and less-crowded roads to use instead.

Bad things can happen to kids, no doubt about that, but he’s safer in that trailer than he would be out of it.

Gabriella Raymond

•

CHANGE IN FORMAT

Editors, Daily Planet:

The newspaper business is failing as I well know from personal experience. I had a management position at the largest chain around here that ended a year ago. Frankly, the great majority of newspapers do not deserve to survive. They all take their editorial cues from the gray New York Times, now in serious trouble itself. You can predict their views on everything from guns to climate change with your eyes closed.

Which brings me to the Berkeley Daily Planet’s alleged reason for cutting back. Let’s drop all the greening nonsense. By that logic no one should ever publish anything because that would save all the trees. No one should ever use any resources because that is interfering with our “limited” supply ! That these resources sat unused for thousands of years while people were starving to death goes unmentioned. The liberal left has become a giant nanny scold crying “Doom !” all the time. Every pleasure from drinking to smoking to hunting to driving is now the enemy and we should all wear a hairshirt in perpetuity for “nature” and the backward regions of the planet.

I bet the Daily Planet is cutting back for financial reasons. Now if anyone can verify the rumor that KPFA is cutting airtime 50 percent to lessen airwaves pollution that would be nice.

Michael P. Hardesty

Oakland

•

APPLE MOTH SPRAYING

Editors, Daily Planet:

Now that the powers that be (a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge and the Schwarzenegger Administration) have agreed to temporarily suspend the threatened aerial spraying of pesticide gas over much of the Bay Area in an attempt to sexually harass a small brown moth, we need to force a complete and final end to this insane plan.

The incompetent Bush administration has been wrong about almost everything in the last seven years; why does anyone in their right mind possibly think that they would be right about a supposed big threat posed by the presence of the light brown apple moth (Epiphyas postvittana)?

American apple growers originally lobbied the federal United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to classify this small moth as a big threat to their crops as a way of cutting down on competition from New Zealand apple exporters. It worked for a few years, and forced the New Zealand apple growers to undertake unnecessary and toxic sprayings of their orchards. This moth has been living in New Zealand for about a century and is considered to be a minor agricultural pest there.

This moth, a native to Australia, has also lived in New Caledonia, Hawai’i and England for many years. These areas are still green and agriculturally productive. The residents and the farmers of Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Hawai’i and England have managed to co-exist with this moth without having to resort to the aerial pesticide spraying of entire cities and towns.

But now that this moth has been discovered in California, other countries can and are demanding that this state take steps to eliminate the presence of the moth. So the discovered presence of the Apple Moth is a threat to the potential export profits of American apple growing corporations, it is not an actual threat to the growing of the apples. Hoisted on their own petard! Just agribusiness corporate greed coming home to roost, so to speak.

A quick search of the Internet will reveal that the supposed presence of agricultural insect pests is the basis of many ongoing trade battles and trade wars between different food-producing countries and food-consuming nations. This brown apple moth brouhaha is just the latest conflict to appear recently in our California news media as a major story. Our apple farmers and our state and federal agricultural experts need to consult with apple growers in New Zealand and Australia and find some low-key biological controls as a remedy for the presence of the moth. The USDA should rejoin the real world and immediately downgrade this bogus threat level posed by the presence of this moth.

Please write letters to your City Council representatives, your County supervisors, your State representatives and your Federal representatives and tell them “no” to any aerial spraying of pesticides or any other poison gases in the Bay Area.

James K. Sayre

Oakland

•

FRANKENNEGGER HAIKU

Editors, Daily Planet:

i shall close your schools;

then you invent more machines

to teach your children.

Arnie Passman

•

ABU GHRAIB: FOUR YEARS AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED

Editors, Daily Planet:

It has been four years since we learned of the torture at Abu Ghraib and our government still has not acted to restore America’s honor by unequivocally banning torture and other forms of cruel treatment.

I encourage anyone who does not believe that the Bush Administration did not orchestrate the torture techniques to read Philip Zimbardo’s “The Lucifer Effect.” Zimbardo did an experiment back in 1971 with Stanford students that emulated what happens when they are divided up into prisoners and guards and given very little guidance. The result: what he calls a “ ‘perfect storm’ which leads good people to engage in evil actions.”

Zimbardo testified at one of the court-martials that it is the system of vague rules, implicit approval and assured immunity that led to the abuse of prisoners. (His testimony was later dismissed.) While the actual acts were perpetrated by individuals, the authority structure was intentionally designed to allow such abuses to occur. The resulting abuse has been not only harmful to the prisoners but also the guards has led us “moral” outsiders to erroneously characterize them both as “monsters.”

This complete disregard for a person’s humanity, that of the prisoner as well as our troops acting as guards, goes against treating humans with dignity and respect. We have flouted the Geneva Convention to the detriment of our own captured troops, but also to our souls as human beings.

Mr. Bush has all but left the car on cruise control as he speeds his way to whatever is next for him after his term is over. It’s up to the next president to restore America’s moral authority. The next president must swear off the use of torture by any and all U.S. agencies, order a complete investigation into this system of abuse, and establish clear guidelines of interrogation. We will not only be attempting to restore the humanity of those we incarcerate, but also our own humanity.

Both are at stake.

Evans McGowan

San Anselmo

•

RODEOS

Editors, Daily Planet:

The Red Bluff Round-up dodged a serious bullet on April 20 when a rodeo bull, “Blue Steel,” jumped an eight-foot fence into the audience, injuring six people in the process, three of them children. It’s a miracle that no one was killed. The story made the national news.

But simply to say that this was an unavoidable “fluke” begs the issue, and rodeos around the country are setting themselves up for tragedies and lawsuits if they don’t do something to prevent such occurrences in the future. I’m reminded of the recent incident at the San Francisco Zoo when a tiger jumped a 15-foot moat and wall, and killed a zoo visitor. That, too, could be considered a “fluke,” yet zoos around the country, indeed world, immediately took a hard look at their public and animal safety policies and requirements, and changes were made.

The rodeo community needs to follow suit for the protection of both the fans and the animals. Is there any sort of national standard for rodeo arenas? Should there be a 9-foot minimum fence requirement at all arenas, for instance? It’s time for various state legislatures to take a look at this issue.

All California legislators may be written in care of the State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814.

Eric Mills, coordinator

Action for Animals

Oakland

•

SOFT TOUCH

Editors, Daily Planet:

My advice to Dorothy Snodgrass (Letters, April 25): Don’t be a soft touch. I also hate finding more address labels in my mail. My response: I refuse to give money to any organization that sends me labels or offers any kind of “free prize” in return for my donation. And I tell them so by sending a note in their return envelope, pointing out that they’re wasting money that should be going to their cause, and further that the adhesive labels cannot be recycled like other paper.

Jerry Landis

•

MEDIA AND THE ELECTION

Editors, Daily Planet:

I am really angry at both the Democratic and Republican parties for allowing the media to select our presidential candidates. Where is their spine? How dare they allow the media to decide who to include and exclude in the debates, and to set up the questions and the formats! The parties should have acted to prevent this. And I think this is not the first election that this has happened—the media chose Kerry last time.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I do believe that there are a lot of corrupt people out there who will to anything to attain power. They will corrupt our voting machines (Ohio), corrupt voter lists (Florida), corrupt the caucus process (Iowa), and corrupt media coverage (think Edwards and Kucinich).

Who is protecting the democratic process? Maybe we need foreign observers like other countries? A U.N. presence? We certainly live in strange times.

Margot Smith

•

HEAL THE ANGER

Editors, Daily Planet:

I wonder if we can find a way to heal the anger of students who scrawl graffiti on school walls. I know the students feel frustrated. Some of the frustration comes from the discipline necessary in any place of education. But some of the frustration comes from a curriculum which is not adapted for low achievers. The curriculum for low achievers should develop those skills which can make students economically self-sufficient. At the same time teachers and counselors should be encouraged to identify non-academic talents of students which are worthy of praise.

We may need to find new learning streams for low achievers. So that their frustration doesn’t keep mounting.

Romila Khanna

Albany

•

PEJORATIVE

Editors, Daily Planet:

The right wing keeps accusing the media of liberal bias. Talk about overkill! The right has managed to make “liberal” equate with socialist. (It is the liberals who gave us Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance.) Have you noticed that “reactionary” has somehow faded away? There are only conservatives now. I suggest that some of today’s “conservatives” are out and out “reactionaries”! It is only in our country that “liberal” and “socialist” are pejorative. In all other developed countries both are accepted political beliefs.

I haven’t seen much questioning of this overkill by the press. “Liberal”?

Harry Gans

•

YES, LET’S ALL HELP DESIGN

AN OPTIMAL BRT SYSTEM

Editors, Daily Planet:

Bruce Wichias wrote to decry my letter mentioning the existence of an existing 2001 City Council resolution in favor of a dedicated-lane Bus Rapid Transit system. He said my position was being equivalent to giving AC Transit a “whatever you wish” carte blanche, He said that, in contrast, “AC Transit needs help with this.”

I completely agree with Mr. Wichias’ position about the need for help, and did not intend to say that no further attention is needed. The BRT project in Berkeley is not yet sufficiently designed or planned for us to know at this point precisely how it would work. Choice among the proposed alternatives is crucial, and any final set of choices on routing, stations, lane alignments, etc., will need a great deal of further study before we can give the project a go-ahead. But that’s exactly why we are now taking the next step: choosing the “local preferred alternative” that will be the main scenario for the completion of the environmental review process.

Where I disagree is with the position of opponents (primarily associated with change-averse southside neighborhood groups) who wish to kill the project before studying it—by choosing instead a “no build” alternative now. Instead of the BRT project, they are pushing a fantasy called “Rapid Bus Plus”—an ad hoc configuration invented by neighborhood activists rather than designed by transit professionals.

We should reject this “verdict first, evidence second” sabotage and support giving this important BRT project the complete and thorough study it deserves, via a vigorous “build” scenario that both the community and AC Transit can work on together for the benefit of all.

Alan Tobey

•

MRS. BENTLEY

Editors, Daily Planet:

Thanks for the brief mention (April 1 edition) of the inimitable Mrs. Bentley and her bursting-at-the-seams shop of leotards, leggings and tights. (Although I’m trying to be gracious when described as an “old timer.”) Through the voluptuous ‘60s I abandoned all restraints, but when I eventually felt the need for a more uplifting experience, I went to Bentley’s and was assessed and assisted by the highest authority herself. (And yes, she really did scrutinize everyone coming and going.)

Mrs. Bentley steered me to one of the minute fitting rooms, had me bend forward from the waist, cupped my breasts in her two hands and firmly pronounced “34C!” I hope there will be room in the “new” downtown for at least a few how-Berkeley-can-you-be individuals like her.

Susan Leonard

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GAZA

Editors, Daily Planet:

There’s a news blackout in the United States about the siege of Gaza.

Since 2006, Israel has controlled the flow of goods, food, fuel, access to health care, and freedom of movement of all 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In the past four months, Israel has intensified this siege by reducing imports of food and medicine to a trickle. Despite the lack of clean water for the people of Gaza to drink, Israel bars the delivery of water filters. Half of the people of Gaza are children under the age of 18. Growing up in this environment, they must be “shocked by the miserable things” they see, as UN humanitarian affairs official John Holmes said he was. Holmes also blamed the siege for the collapse of Gaza’s economy, which has left 80 percent of the population dependent on international food aid.

Since 2000, more than 2,680 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israeli violence. While Palestinian militants have been illegally firing rockets into southern Israel, killing 11 people since 2000, collective punishment of the Palestinians by Israel will neither bring about an end to the rockets, improve security of ordinary Israelis, nor open the path to a viable and just peace. Water filters, food, medicine, and clean drinking water in the hands of Gazans are not security threats.

The United States, which provides Israel with the economic, military, and diplomatic support that makes Israel’s history of violating the humans rights of Gazans possible, has a moral responsibility to use its influence to stop Israel’s siege of the Gazan people. Instead, it is currently pursuing a policy of fomenting civil war in Gaza, as recently revealed by a groundbreaking report in Vanity Fair.

Could the tragedy of Christopher Wootton’s death have been avoided if we had been more proactive with prevention and enforcement efforts in our community? Sadly, we think it’s possible that might be the case. We are a group of neighbors who have volunteered our time for over two years on the Chancellor’s Task Force on Student/Neighbor Relations working on issues of alcohol-related behavior in the Southside.

The Southside neighborhood is the most densely-populated in Berkeley with a mix of students, working people, and families. Starting a few years back, this neighborhood became a high-energy party zone, overrun with student gatherings that lasted throughout the night. Often, there were hundreds of young people in the streets—most of them drunk, shouting at each other and into their cell phones, roving from party to party. Urinating and vomiting on lawns was common. Broken glass, bottles, and cans were left scattered all over the sidewalks, streets, and yards. Parked cars were walked over, lifted and moved onto lawns and sidewalks, or otherwise vandalized. Garbage cans, recycling containers, and newspaper boxes were regularly overturned, and trees and plants in private gardens were frequently damaged.

It was hard to believe that these actions were perpetrated by the same respectful students who had worked so hard to get into Cal. No slouches ourselves to partying in our heyday, this was behavior like we’d never seen. Students were frequently rude, and when asked to quiet down were likely to tell us to “fuck off” and insist that “we should move, it was their territory.” As parents and neighbors, we were not only concerned about the immense impact this had on our sleep and quality of life, but also worried about the danger and health affects of these out-of-control parties on the students themselves.

There are also significant public safety and cost issues for the rest of the city. On any given party night, up to 75 percent of Berkeley’s police force may be found on the Southside dealing with parties, taking away valuable resources from other parts of Berkeley. That means that other crimes are more likely to be committed, and less likely to be solved.

The task force, a unique partnership of city, university, student, business, and neighborhood leaders, has made significant progress over the past two years: Cal’s Code of Student Conduct was enhanced; city laws regarding out-of-control parties were beefed up; and a Social Host Ordinance that addressed under-age drinking was passed. The university developed an online tutorial program about the effects of binge drinking and made its viewing mandatory for incoming students. UCPD created a squad dedicated to the partying problems in the Southside; UCPD and BPD applied for and got ABC grants; a web site was created; “party safe” campaigns were initiated; neighbors hosted welcome back fairs for students; and student leaders started a media campaign.

But it is apparent to many of us that these efforts have not been adequate to address the continuing problems. Indeed, for many Southside neighbors, this year has been the worst ever for student behavior problems. While we support the efforts of the university, the city, and both UCPD and BPD, this tragedy has pointed out where preventative efforts would make a huge difference—in this case perhaps even saving a life. We suggest the following actions, many of which have been instituted successfully in other university communities:

• Establish an Office of Off-Campus Life. Given the huge impact UC students have on their neighborhoods, it makes sense to have this office not only to educate students on expected behavior in the community but to serve as a resource for them as well.

• Establish a community liaison position to give neighborhood residents an advocate in trying to solve neighbor-student problems that are often overlooked by the city and the university. This position should be funded jointly by the city and the university, because both entities are involved in dealing with these issues.

• Ask UCPD and BPD for consistent enforcement of the Second Response and Social Host Ordinances. It took us a long time to develop these tools, and we need to use them. The police should educate all of their officers and start citing public nuisance behavior—not only off campus but in residence halls and Greek houses, and in the streets at night. As student leaders themselves have told members of the task force on numerous occasions, we need to tell them clearly what the expectations are regarding student behavior and then enforce them consistently. That will change behavior.

• UCPD and BPD should develop joint procedures for handling party complaints, and make sure they work together efficiently. It is critically important that they resolve the jurisdictional issues that have sometimes limited the effective enforcement of our ordinances.

• Give police additional resources to enforce ordinances. While this may be a little more costly initially, in the long run it will prove to be very cost-effective.

• Cal should send letters to all students—and in particular incoming freshmen and their parents—outlining what behavior is expected of Cal students in the community and presenting information on alcohol and noise ordinances. Certainly parents want to know what is expected and have the assurance that their children are going to a safe place to study.

• The City of Berkeley should enforce its On-site Manager Ordinance and require manager contact information to be posted in a visible location on multi-unit buildings for the use of police and neighbors.

• Increase the funding for the Health Center at Cal to get more information out to students on the effects of binge drinking and other alcohol-related risks.

Education is not just a formal classroom experience; it is a social one as well. We are abdicating our responsibility to our young people if we do not teach them social rules that are in place to benefit us all.

It is enormously sad that a tragedy of this nature is necessary before it becomes obvious that business as usual is not acceptable. We send our condolences to this young man’s family and friends with the sincerest hope that our community takes responsibility so that this kind of senseless loss is not repeated.

From the beginning, the idea of converting an industrial property in the middle of our manufacturing district to recreational fields and a skate park, was pure folly. Like the lie that requires another to cover up its dishonesty, the planning and rezoning of the park complex have led to a series of outrageous decisions, and of course, more of our tax dollars being spent to “fix” a multitude of mistakes.

It should surprise no one that the consequences of such an extreme shift in the area’s zoning are never-ending. The latest round of bad news from the skate complex is a request for its complete replacement, despite being only five years old. The city’s staff, whose bungling has squandered nearly a million local tax dollars, is now proposing a skate park bond for two million more.

Undoubtedly, none of the city’s so-called professional staff or council who signed off on the ill-fated sports complex ever thought their decisions would come back to bite them. Had this project been a private construction, many on the planning team would have been fired. From its opening days in 2003 when the complex was abruptly closed because of toxic groundwater seepage, Harrison skate park has been a gnarly ride for Berkeley. Now it appears to be in an irreversible backslide and headed for a wipeout.

Make it work at any cost

The first cracks in the skate park project were not seen in the concrete bowls, but in the planning process itself. This breakdown started a decade ago when Berkeley began negotiating with the University of California for the contaminated property at Fourth and Harrison streets. It was then that the city began meeting privately with Berkeley resident, Doug Fielding, and a former City Council member, Fred Collignon, who is also an associate professor of city and regional planning at Cal.

These two insiders were also responsible for organizing the very vocal special interest group of soccer parents and skateboarders that pressured the City of Berkeley to build recreational fields at the current location. Few elected officials were willing to voice any opposition to the project and thereby run the risk of becoming a political target.

Since that time, former council member Diane Woolley has offered some insight into the process. “Fielding was heavy-handed, overbearing, single-minded, and shortsighted during the entire process.” She also has stated, “It was understood by the council members that this project was to be approved quickly and questions about health hazards were swept away in the rush.”

As political pressures over the creation of the Harrison sports park mounted, the soccer lobby sought the special support of city manager Weldon Rucker. His “make-it-work-at-any-cost” stance quickly silenced all staff opposition. Rucker’s office even authorized funding for Doug Fielding to oversee the development of a site plan, months before the council had approved the project’s use permit. The city manager apparently also worked out a plan to forego a public bidding process for this municipal development. Instead, the contract was awarded to Fielding’s new group, Association of Sports Field Users (ASFU).

The city didn’t seem to care that this non-profit was barely a year old and had no track record. Further evidence of its influence was the fact that council enacted a special ordinance allowing ASFU to manage the project, with a ceiling of two million dollars! The council’s extraordinary action was the source of many problems and much confusion, forcing the city’s planning team to spend numerous extra hours in aiding ASFU’s development of the site.

A “comedy” of errors

Despite what Fielding has recently stated, the city did little to conduct an honest site investigation, including its failure to even complete a Phase One Study. Such a review would have looked at off-site problems that could potentially affect the project. This is why the toxic Hexavalent Chromium (Chromium-6) was not encountered earlier.

Another reason for this toxic surprise may be found in Berkeley’s own Toxics Department. The record reflects that our staff environmental expert, Dr. Al-Hadithy, was obviously aware of the Chromium-6 groundwater plume, but simply failed to speak up. This in turn allowed the excavation of the skate bowls to play out like the opening of an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies, only this time, instead of oil, “up through the ground came a-bubbling Chrome-6.” It was a very costly mistake that project proponents seem to have forgotten.

In the aftermath of the Chromium-6 crisis, the skateboard site was forced to undergo a redesign. During the initial review in 2000, Parks’ Director Lisa Carrona was publicly told that the new skate park plan was underestimating the challenge to isolate the toxic groundwater. Questions were also raised about site soils and the structure’s stability.

“When a swimming pool-like concrete structure, such as the skate facility, is built in a flood-zone area, long-term problems with the stability of the structure can be expected. No subsurface structures should be allowed at this location, especially the skate bowls.”

Today Carrona continues to be a cheerleader for the skate park. Even the Toxics Director Dr. Al-Hadithy has been quoted recently, saying that the cracks in the bowls are not due to the groundwater. This is absolute nonsense. His unqualified opinion is apparently an attempt to refocus liability costs onto the project’s subcontractors.

Air quality monitoring

The recent public pronouncements from ASFU’s founder, Doug Fielding, conveniently revise the air quality history of the site as well. Perhaps Mr. Fielding doesn’t remember calling the air monitoring stupid, or that because of that study certain members of the city’s staff should be fired. Nor does he seem to remember the many vicious attacks on those in the public who dared to call the site’s air quality into serious question.

For the record, the final monitoring report revealed that the air quality at the site was twice as bad as downtown San Jose. Playing at the soccer fields is comparable to playing in heavy traffic. More than one hundred times a year, the site exceeds the state’s PM-10 particulate standards. In fact, the air monitoring study forced the city to post warning signs and required parents to sign an environmental wavier acknowledging these conditions prior to their children being allowed to use the soccer fields.

Today there is no question that the site’s air quality is much worse than was found in the 2003 year-long study. It was noted that even during that period of testing, there was a noticeable increase in particulate levels, most of which is probably coming from the city’s own operations at the Second Street Transfer Station.

Last year the community monitored the air around the skate park for metal particulates emitted by Pacific Steel Casting, a foundry within a quarter mile of the sports complex. The Berkeley Air Monitor’s study showed unhealthy levels of nickel and manganese have also been impacting this municipal park.

Putting good money after bad

Even the city’s attorney’s office has got into the spin game over Harrison Park. They stated that perhaps their office made some “missteps,” but that they were in no way connected to the influence exerted by the soccer lobby or city council. The city has threatened to look into the possible liability of the subcontractors. This is very unlikely. The city knows full well that a real investigation of the Harrison site would only daylight the project’s ongoing problems and the city’s culpability in the skate park debacle.

From its conception, Berkeley’s skate park has had a history of bad government and poor choices, perhaps all made for the right reasons. However, good intentions can’t justify abridging our planning practices or ignoring the checks and balances of our zoning ordinances. Having a viable skate park could be a great asset for our city, but at this ill-chosen location, it is, and always will be, a serious health and financial liability.

Over the past week top Pentagon officials have upped the Bush regime’s verbal attacks against Iran in what may be a prelude to actual military attacks. On April 21, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates delivered a speech at the West Point military academy where he accused Iran of being a rogue nation that supports “terrorism; that is a destabilizing force throughout the Middle East and Southwest Asia and, in my judgment, is hellbent on acquiring nuclear weapons.” He went on to say, “Another war in the Middle East is the last thing we need. And in fact, I believe it would be disastrous on a number of levels. But the military option must be kept on the table, given the destabilizing policies of the regime and the risks inherent in a future Iranian nuclear threat – either directly or through nuclear proliferation.” Gates and all other top Bush administration officials, including the president, continually emphasize that the military option is always on the table in regard to Iran.

On April 25, in an indication of how real the “military option” is, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, stated, “I have no expectations that we’re going to get into a conflict with Iran in the immediate future,”but he emphasized the U.S. military has reserve capability, particularly in the Navy and Air Force and based in other regions. “So it would be a mistake to think that we are out of combat capability.”

Mullen did not define what he meant by “immediate future,” but he went on to say he is “increasingly concerned about Iran’s activity, not just in Iraq, but throughout the region. I believe recent events, especially the Basra operation, have revealed just how much and just how far Iran is reaching into Iraq to foment instability. Their support to criminal groups in the form of munitions and training, as well as other assistance they are providing and the attacks they are encouraging continues to kill coalition and Iraqi personnel.” Mullen said that General David Petraeus is preparing a briefing that details these activities and that the report is expected in the next couple of weeks. The report is expected to detail the discovery in Iraq of weapons that were very recently manufactured in Iran, according to Mullen.

We can expect that this latest Petraeus report will be used as further justification for a possible future attack on Iran by the White House. In the midst of the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is frightening to think of a third war being launched by the Bush regime, but given the administration’s record it is a very real possibility.

The same day Mullen was launching his verbal attack at Iran, a U.S. Navy official reported that a U.S. military contracted cargo ship on Thursday fired several “warning” shots at two boats that approached it off the Iranian coast. This is similar to other incidents in Iranian coastal waters. Will such an incident be used as the “trigger” to justify war against Iran in the future? It is not beyond the realm of possibility if we remember the alleged incident in the Tonkin Gulf which led to Congress approving war against Vietnam.

These recent verbal assaults are a continuation of previous rhetoric aimed at Iran by the Bush regime. They do not necessarily mean that war is imminent, but we should not be lulled into thinking the Bush regime will remain content to only fire verbal shots at Iran. The White House and its military machine have done everything possible to keep tensions high in the region and will continue to do so. The Bush administration regularly links Iran to terrorism and accuses it of supplying weapons and training to those fighting U.S. forces in Iraq. In addition, the accusation that Iran is attempting to obtain nukes has been levied by just about every top official in the Bush regime.

Keep in mind that similar charges were made by the Bush regime before it invaded Iraq. Because of this, we can not afford to be complacent in the face of this latest round of attacks. The only guarantee that the Bush administration will not be able to launch another war that will be devastating to the people of the world is if we drive the regime from power. As long as Bush and his henchmen and women remain in the White House, they are a threat to not only the Iranian people, but to all of the world.

Many people familiar with the Berkeley City Council’s resolution calling the Marines Corps Recruiters unwelcome intruders and the resulting protests might be surprised to learn that they had been deliberately bamboozled into believing that the Berkeley leaders were insulting the men and women who serve in the Marines. The mass hysteria was fanned by the nation’s mostly pro-war media who were willingly led by the nose by Republican war hawks. Their goal was to paint war critics like Berkeley as unpatriotic haters of the troops and to deflect attention from the disgraceful behavior of the Marine Recruiters which was the topic of the Berkeley resolution.

Testimony and public comment were first presented at Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission regarding the following practices by the recruiters.

1) The recruiters have long been guilty of not honoring the agreements and contracts they make with recruits. Though not a new problem, this dishonest activity continues and has even been ratified by some conservative high court decisions.

2) Recently the Pentagon has been failing to meet minimum recruitment goals most likely because of the unpopularity of the Iraq War and the fear of permanent deployment of troops due to stop-loss regulations. The Republican administration does not want to activate a draft because sending the sons (and daughters) of the middle and wealthy class families to war is what hastened the end of the Vietnam War. In order to dupe more young people into enlisting, the Pentagon has initiated a new program titled “Try One,” where a wavering recruit is told they can enlist for one year and then leave if they choose to do so. After the year they are then informed that due to Stop Loss regulations they cannot leave and end up permanently deployed.

3) Incidents of rape of female recruits by recruiters have increased significantly and the Pentagon has acknowledged the problem by issuing an order prohibiting any recruiter from being alone with a female recruit at any time. Alleged perpetrators have gone uninvestigated and women who report the assaults continue to be penalized for doing so.

The Berkeley resolution specifically addressed the Marine Recruiters as acting dishonorably and being unwelcome.

The Recruiters are not the Marines. The Recruiters are Marines who have been ordered to deceive potential recruits by their commanding officers. Many of the current commanding officers have recently replaced others who were critical of the botched illegitimate war and occupation in Iraq.

This is not the first time we have seen the pro war crowd and their supporters in the media target critics as being against the troops. Much like the debunked myth of protesters spitting on the returning soldiers from Vietnam, the lie that people in Berkeley hate the Marines has been widely circulated to deflect attention from hard truths about the increasingly unpopular war.

The Berkeley people and their Council are not against the Marines or any other enlisted personnel. The Marines are our sons, daughters, husbands, wives. fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. The Marines are us and ours and it is our duty to protect them and all American enlisted from losing their health and lives in illegitimate adventures for profit by liars and criminals.

The troops facing their fifth or sixth Iraq tour have probably figured out that the only way they are getting out of Iraq is on a hospital gurney or in a body bag. Who then truly supports the troops, the flag wavers and Berkeley boycotters or those who challenge the con men and their false promises?

Mark McDonald served on the Peace and Justice Commission when the Marine Recruiter resolution passed.

This is in response to Laurie Capitelli’s April 18 commentary in the Daily Planet. He begins his commentary standing at Vine looking south “down a vibrant Shattuck Avenue thronging with pedestrians…spilling out across traffic to claim and use the grass median strip.” What he does not say, is that this thronging mass of pedestrians does not continue down Shattuck Avenue or continue into the real downtown of Berkeley.

When I disembark at the downtown BART station and walk home via Shattuck Avenue to North Berkeley I see a more complete picture. Getting off the train, it is hard not to notice that downtown is shabby and worn and needs to be revitalized. The buildings that have recently been built downtown lack inspiration and have done little to reinvigorate the area with the positive energy we would like in a city center. As I cross University Avenue and walk north, I notice that blocks of new five- story buildings, painted artificially Tuscan to cover their inherent blandness and lack of character, stand like cloned soldiers on the east side of Shattuck Avenue. Apartments are apparently on the top floors of the buildings and offices on the ground floor. Many of these ground floor offices are empty or perhaps not even completed. There are few people walking the sidewalks in this area. As I cross Delaware, I walk into what I call my neighborhood. The one- or two-story buildings are more human scale, the architecture more interesting, and the area more friendly with people busily walking the streets. The shops and restaurants are busy because they are local businesses in tune with the local populace. I feel lucky to call this part of Berkeley my home.

It is predominately an area of owner-occupied homes. The area is dotted with parks to provide tranquility in an urban environment. There are walking paths that crisscross the area leading to other commercial areas or to other neighborhoods within the area. I like the sense of place, the personality and the community I have found in this part of Berkeley. I like the quality of life that the local, the small, and the individualistic produce. Apparently, others feel the same way, because even though there are some things that can be improved, the North Berkeley area essentially works.

Before any improvements in this area are planned, it would be wise to ponder what makes the “gourmet ghetto” one of the most vital parts of Berkeley, for it is very easy to kill what we love in North Berkeley. The Vision Committee, a subgroup of LOCCNA, set upon this task when we wrote our Vision Statement in response to David Stoloff’s plan. Although there was some disagreement within LOCCNA (as stated in the Fred Dodsworth article), we united around the concepts behind the Vision Statement. It was endorsed at a well-attended meeting of LOCCNA members and it was endorsed by the Northside Neighborhood Association. It would be well for Laurie Capitelli to respond to the issues contained within that document and answer truthfully the fear of many North Berkeley residents: Is this movement to enhance North Berkeley with green and pedestrian space only a ruse or a prelude to building the dead architecture and high rise apartments that are now creeping up Shattuck Avenue? I question the sincerity of Capitelli’s statement that we should work together with a “shared commitment to bring improvement to our neighborhood.” When I am on Vine looking south on Shattuck, I like what I see up to Delaware, but looking further south on Shattuck I dread what might be coming north.

Why would a moth that has probably been in California for at least a decade, that is not spreading as rapid as California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) demographic models predict and that has not devastated the agriculture in the countries where has been established for decades, suddenly become the target of the state agriculture’s department and agribusiness? This little insect is simply being used as an excuse to protect California’s big agriculture interests and to justify the continuation and expansion of the budgets of the state’s agricultural bureaucracies. For this strategy to work, it is necessary to resort to the well known terror campaign, so familiar to us as it is daily used by the current U.S. administration as a mechanism to justify the war that enriches a few big military industries and oil companies and impoverishes the vast population now subjected to increasing home foreclosures, unemployment, increased oil and food prices and cuts on education and other basic services.

In a globalized world supposedly integrated via free trade, California must constantly look for ways to protect its agriculture against trade restrictions that would be imposed by other countries if the light brown apple moth (LBAM) or any other insect species, regardless of population numbers, happens to be listed as a quarantine pest in the importing country. In fact the USA considers the LBAM a quarantine pest, and it will reject any shipment from any country if one dead LBAM egg, larvae or adult is found in such cargo. Exporting farmers would lose millions of dollars, as often happens with farmers from my country, Chile, whose shipments of fruits are rejected at U.S. ports when they find not only a dead insect pest, but even a dead or live lady bug. This forces farmers to overuse pesticides and also prompts governments to take measures, even one as ineffective and unnecessary as aerial spraying of insect sex pheromones for eradicating pest populations, which in itself is a losing ecological proposition.

In California, despite public opposition, these measures seem conveniently implemented especially when the owner of the pheromone manufacturing company is a good friend and campaign supporter of the state’s governor, and at the same time is a large scale farmer producing thousands of acres of pest-susceptible, biodiversity-void monocultures of almonds, citrus and other crops exported all over the world. For this person and his company and for the CDFA, the whole ordeal is a win-win situation, while the big losers are the public in general whose tax dollars will be wasted, and the growing number of organic farmers who are not afraid of this moth because their diversified farm operations provide habitat to natural predators and parasites that would maintain the pest in check. In addition, if the insect ever were to reach pest status, instead of devoting $75 million for eradication, much research on biological control could be funded to treat only the affected areas of farms. For example it would be possible to test various species of Trichogramma parasitic wasps that kill the moth eggs, or applications of strains of Bacillus thuringinesis, a bacterium specific to the Lepidoptera (moth) family that kills the larvae of the moth, or to bring predators from the center of origin of the LBAM. That’s what we did in the late 1800s, when the Rodolia lady bug was introduced from Australia to control the cottony cushion scale, keeping this citrus pest regulated until today, saving California millions of dollars in health and environmental costs by eliminating the need for chemical pesticides.

Oakland crime is out of control. Our city is in crisis and our residents are in shock. Oakland is one of the 10 most dangerous cities in the country. Our 2008 murder rate is nearly 60 percent higher than at this same time last year. Recently, a young East Oakland mother was killed while she slept in her bed; she was struck by a bullet intended for a group of people outside her home, a 10-year-old boy was permanently disabled when a bullet ripped into him while he took piano lessons in Montclair, diners were robbed at gunpoint at six restaurants in just the last two weeks, and many residents have been assaulted on the streets, and subjected to car-jackings and other personal and property crimes.

The mayor and City Council have acknowledged our public safety crisis and pledge to raise staffing levels to the 803 officers approved four years ago by the end of this year. This is good news but not enough. Oakland will still have 272 fewer officers than the national average for cities our size. With crime problems far beyond average, a plan that calls for so few officers has little chance of making Oakland safe.

The Jobs and Housing Coalition and many Oakland residents strongly urge the mayor and City Council to pass a comprehensive public safety plan that would:

• Increase the number of police officers to 1,075.

• Re-deploy officers from desk jobs into the streets and neighborhoods of Oakland.

• Adopt COMSTAT or similar command and control practices that have proven effective in other cities.

• Place GPS systems in police cars to enhance deployment of resources faster and more efficiently.

Public safety measures can work. New York City, with over 20 times the population of Oakland, used to be known as the country’s crime capitol. With solid management, innovation, and redirected resources, New York transformed itself into a vibrant metropolis that allowed its hidden treasures to emerge. Oakland can and must do the same.

Some politicians say that Oakland cannot afford 1,075 police officers. However, in recent polls, 79 percent of the voters say “we need to take extraordinary measures to stop crime and reduce violence.” Elected officials will have to figure out where the money will come from and we stand ready to assist in that effort. But the bottom line is clear—Oakland cannot afford not to hire more police officers!

We agree that more police will not solve the social and economic problems that so often contribute to crime. Nevertheless, Oakland must first protect residents from criminal activity so that it can attract new businesses, jobs, and promote housing production. Only then will we raise the revenue needed to improve schools and social services to address other systemic issues.

The Jobs and Housing Coalition urges the mayor and City Council to take immediate action to ensure public safety. We will support their efforts with great enthusiasm and encourage all Oaklanders to do likewise. In addition, we will help bring the Safe Streets and Neighborhood Act of 2008 before the voters to increase the number of police officers to 1,075 and deploy them in the streets and neighborhoods of the city. The petitioning will begin soon; please sign on so that this measure can appear on the November 2008 ballot.

Gregory McConnell is president and CEO of the Jobs and Housing Coalition, an association of business and housing leaders who actively seek to help Oakland become a better city.

On April 23, the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) unanimously approved a resolution, brought by School Board Director Karen Hemphill, in opposition to the aerial pesticide spraying proposed for the Bay Area. (The current CDFA plan is to spray every 30 days for nine months of each year for up to five years or longer.) The board’s resolution requests that the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) act to protect the health and welfare of the residents and natural environment of Alameda County by immediately shifting its light brown apple moth (LBAM) control methods to least-toxic Integrated Pest Management methods. The resolution also urges BUSD to join neighboring jurisdictions, including other school districts and local governments, to oppose the spray and requests that the Alameda County School Board and other local school districts take a similar stand.

In proposing this resolution, Director Hemphill brings our children, one of the most at risk populations to pesticide exposure, to the forefront of the discussion of pesticide use in our urban environment. As Dr. Tara Levy testified at the BUSD meeting:

• Children are a more vulnerable population to pesticide exposure than adults due to lower body weight, less developed detoxification pathways, and less mature lungs.

• Children go to school early in the morning, often leaving for school only a few hours after the spraying stops. Children may be the first population exposed following each spray.

• Children play outside where playgrounds will be coated by the spray. Some of the spray ingredients are known to be more toxic when they come in contact with water; morning dew and fog on our playgrounds and in our parks may increase the toxic effects experienced by exposed children in the morning. How are playgrounds and play equipment going to be protected?

• Schools rely on attendance for funding. More absenteeism results in less funding from the state. Some children are likely to stay at home during spray periods, either as the result of illness or parental caution.

• Spray particles will be tracked into school facilities on shoes, backpacks, and clothing and will concentrate in classrooms and hallways.

• School healthcare resources may be overburdened. Schools nurses should be educated on signs and symptoms of pesticide-related illnesses, and will need to have protocols in place to manage children who become ill on the days following the spray. Schools without school nurses are especially vulnerable.

CDFA Secretary Kawamura, his staff, and representatives from the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) have continuously mischaracterized the pesticide (CheckMate) as a “harmless pheromone.” The facts are different. CheckMate is an EPA-registered pesticide (EPA Registration No. 56336) which, in addition to a synthetic pheromone, contains 9 inert ingredients. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health database and the Material Safety Data Sheets clearly show some of these inert ingredients are carcinogenic and associated with birth defects. For example, the ingredient Butylated Hydroxytoluene has carcinogenic, tumerogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic effects in animals and human cells; Polyvinyl Alcohol is an irritant and its material safety data sheet indicates that it has caused cancerous tumors in lab animals.

The pesticide is delivered in microscopic plastic capsules, some of which are smaller than 10 microns in size—the size of particulate matter which can be inhaled into the deep lung. Secretary Kawamura claimed inaccurately (at the Berkeley City Council meeting on Feb. 26) that the smallest size is 10 microns and that 10 microns is not inhalable into the lung. On April 6, two Monterey area scientists (Drs. Dennis Knepp and Jeff Haferman) released their analysis of the capsules’ size, finding that the CDFA made a serious mathematical error in calculating the size range of the particles such that a much greater percentage of the particles is smaller than 10 microns than was previously publicized. Their analysis notes that “the small particle size from the CheckMate spray can cause significant health issues, and the CDFA needs to seriously reexamine their findings.”

The BUSD, along with cities and counties in the spray zone, is calling for the CDFA to shift its focus from using pesticides as a solution to less harmful measures and least-toxic integrated pest management techniques, including taking no action based on sound science, lack of apparent damage by the moth to agriculture, and facts about the biology and behavior of the moth that suggest that aerial spraying will not eradicate it.

On April 24 a judge in Santa Cruz County ruled that the CDFA had not made its case for the spraying and ordered that an Environmental Impact Report be completed before spraying could go forward in Santa Cruz. The same day, the governor delayed spraying in all areas until Aug. 17. Thanks to this, we have gained some additional time in which to marshal even greater opposition to the current CDFA program and additional support for a more enlightened approach that will protect the health of those in the spray zone.

Please join communities throughout the spray zone in this effort. For information from groups opposed to the spray see www.stopthespray.org and www.lbamspray.com.

It’s unfortunate that the concept of visualization has gotten such a bad rap. Because of its connection with what turned out to be mushy-brained 1960s social science, or perhaps because it has become the butt of so many jokes (e.g., the bumper sticker “Visualize Whirled Peas”), it now languishes in history’s big dustheap, somewhere between encounter groups and last week’s coffee grounds. As it turns out, we probably cannot change reality simply by “visualizing” an alternative one.

Too bad, since there may yet be some value in the old process. The idea of creating something of a visual image in the minds of participants in a discussion may actually help lead to breakthroughs in dealing with complex, seemingly intractible problems, owing to our reliance on our visual sense.

Problems like, say, the legalization of marijuana.

I’d like to try to paint a picture of what a post-legalization world might look like, in hopes that it might stimulate other “visualizations” and perhaps inch us towards that goal.

So how would such a mythical post-punishment world differ from today’s?

Well, obviously, the major difference is that marijuana, its possession and use would be legal (and not only for “medicinal” purposes). One could plant, grow, sell, give away or otherwise distribute, and smoke, or otherwise ingest, this plant. But would that mean that we would simply go from today’s tightly-constrained regime to a free-for-all where anyone could smoke a joint anywhere, anytime, for whatever reason? From felony prosecutions for possession to totally unrestrained use?

Not necessarily. Let me flesh out a few details in this painting.

On the day when decriminalization legislation takes effect, what should the status of this substance be? Well, it’s not as if we have absolutely no guides here; a very useful one goes by the deceptively simple name of “Repeal,” otherwise known as the 21st amendment to our Constitution. Before its enactment, during that dark time known as “Prohibition,” all “intoxicating liquors” were treated pretty much the same as marijuana is today, legally speaking. After Repeal, it was once again legal to sell these spirits, but not without restriction. There are age limits and other restrictions on them (open container laws, bans on alcohol at certain events, etc.).

So why not apply this to marijuana, after its “Repeal”? Here’s what comes to mind:

Age restrictions

As we do with alcohol, we can restrict its possession and use for those under a certain age. Of course, we all know that such restrictions are fairly ineffective; kids will get their hands on the stuff in any case, and use (and abuse) it. It happens with alcohol all the time. But it is at least an attempt to lay some ground rules, to say, basically, “you cannot do whatever you want to do; we care about your health and safety, and we’re going to at least try to keep you away from this stuff until you’re old enough to ruin your life.” Or something along those lines. (The theory being that while we recognize that pot should be legal, it’s not something we necessarily want elementary-school kids using on a regular basis.)

Restrictions on use

While marijuana may not be the “killer drug” that it was cracked up to be (here I refer you to the excellent send-up, “Reefer Madness,” and to the now-totally discredited LaGuardia Report), it nonetheless does have potentially powerful psychoactive effects (don’t ask me how I know that). Recognizing this, it seems reasonable to impose restrictions on its use regarding such things as operating motor vehicles, again as we do today with alcohol.

In fact, I would be quite comfortable with a zero-tolerance policy in this matter: no amount of marijuana would be allowable when driving, or operating a power boat, or any other similar vehicle where impaired judgment can have fatal consequences. (This would be similar to the zero-tolerance policies on alcohol which are currently in force in many European countries.)

And in keeping with rules restricting alcohol, those who put on public events, and who have to deal with large crowds at sporting events or similar arenas, would be able to restrict the use of marijuana at such events if they felt it necessary.

Drug testing

With today’s prohibition comes another unpleasant aspect: mandatory drug testing. Such testing regimes, while they are arguably invasive, even repressive, may still have a role to play in a post-legalization world.

Just as we don’t want stoned people driving cars, I think I can confidently say that most reasonable people would not object to a strict ban on the use of marijuana by airline pilots, train engineers, bus drivers, cargo ship captains, and others who we entrust our lives (and our environment) to. Even after Repeal, I would think it reasonable to place an absolute ban on marijuana use by such people (at least within a certain time frame, recognizing that such agents stay in the system for a long time), and to insist on mandatory drug testing to enforce this ban.

Methods of ingestion

The last aspect of visualizing a post-Repeal world is not one in which bans, mandatory testing or any such legal measures could or should have any part to play. I’m referring to how we ingest the stuff. Obviously, the most widely-used method is simply smoking it. Simple, effective, and, I’m sure, potentially more deadly than smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. I don’t have figures at hand, but since I have cleaned a pipe or two in my day, I’ve seen the gunk that is in that smoke. It can’t be good to put that sticky stuff into our lungs. These alternatives should be encouraged over smoking (as primal and convivial as passing a joint or a pipe around can be; perhaps this should be reserved only for rare special occasions).

I would simply like to suggest that there are other, better ways of ingestion: the second-most-popular, baking and eating, seems much more healthy. (Eating it also provides the secondary benefit of a nice gradual transition into feeling the effects of the drug.) There are other methods of inhaling, such as vaporization, which reduce or eliminate the byproducts of combustion, those sticky, gooey tars, from entering one’s lungs.

As a general last note, if you are inclined towards legalization but still have nagging doubts about the potential harms, such as the ones I’ve touched on here, consider this: visualize the huge pot of money that will be made available the day that Repeal passes. Think of the money now being spent (some would say “being flushed down the toilet”) on chasing down offenders, locking them up, herding them through the courts, impounding their vehicles, etc. If you want to legalize, but at the same time you want to keep schoolkids from smoking joints, then you can take some of this heretofore wasted money and use it for some really effective public-service campaigns. Or for drug rehab programs. Or maybe for something really useful not related to drugs at all.

Most Berkeley residents are aware of the encampment in the oak trees by the University of California’s Memorial Stadium.

But few people are aware that the university has cut down more than 18,500 trees on its property in Claremont Canyon during the past 18 months, and plans an even-more-massive clear-cutting effort in Strawberry Canyon.

The stadium tree-sitters and their sympathizers are complaining loudly that UC may cut down some 100 trees planted in the 1920s, in order to make room for a sports training center. Some of these tree-sitters have been squatting there since the Big Game of 2006.

UC claims it’s a leader in reducing the impact of energy consumption on the environment, while it clear-cut tens of thousands of trees that were absorbing greenhouse gases, while cities and countries are planting millions of trees.

Hardly anyone is complaining, save a small band of survivors of the 1991 East Bay fire. There are no tree-sitters to protect the trees in the hills where there is no publicity, no students or football fans passing by.

UC is clear-cutting huge swaths of tall trees—pines, madrone, laurel, acacia, eucalyptus and cypress—with the stated intent of preventing wildfires. In the wake of this deforestation remain stumps, fallen logs and acres of chips more flammable than the trees.

The university plans to cut 10,000 more trees in Claremont Canyon and an unknown number of trees in Strawberry Canyon above Memorial Stadium, as soon as it gets another million-dollar FEMA grant. There will be no replanting program.

To prevent the trees from resprouting, ongoing re-application of an herbicide to the stumps will be required for as long as 10 years. When it rains this poison will drain into Berkeley streams and watershed.

After the trees are gone, so-called native vegetation, such as chamise, poison oak, toyon and chaparral broom, will cover the hills. This is the vegetation that was responsible for the recent Southern California fires. And it begs the question, much like the slaughter of the Point Reyes deer, of who has the right to call a plant or animal “native.”

There were no eucalyptus in the vicinity of the beginning of the great 1991 hills fire, which was started accidentally by construction workers. Firefighters only extinguished the fire superficially, and the next day it flared up and wind blew hot embers into dry brush and trees.

Eucalyptus did not contribute to the 1991 fire any more than other trees. We saw tall, unburned eucalyptus trees standing near my burned-out, gutted home when we returned to it.

If you want to see what the future of the hills above the campus will look like, drive up Claremont Avenue to Grizzly Peak Boulevard and notice the clear-cutting that has already been done and the chips that cover the ground.

Global warming is a fact. One of the things being done around the world is planting trees. Not only is clear-cutting not an accepted means of fire prevention, but trees absorb carbon dioxide, a major cause of global warming. Some examples include:

The City of Los Angeles plans to plant 1 million trees, Enterprise Car Rental will plant 50 million trees, Volkswagen plans to plant 100,000-plus trees, the United Nations Environment Program plans to plant 1 billion, the city of Boston 100,000, the city of New York 1 million, the government of Thailand has pledged to plant 9 million trees.

As if it isn’t listening, the University of California plans to virtually denude the hills on property it owns, cutting down up to 300,000 trees and using millions of our FEMA dollars. Is its goal more development?

The East Bay Regional Park District, on the other hand, is thinning trees and clearing debris as a more realistic way to prevent the spread of fire.

The university has the legal authority to remove the tree-sitters anytime it wants. Maybe UC is using the handful of Memorial Stadium trees to divert public attention from what it is really doing. Maybe the tree-sitters would find this hidden environmental travesty a more deserving target.

Writer Robert Bruce lost his Oakland home in the 1991 fire, and published the Phoenix Journal newspaper for fire survivors. He is part of a volunteer group known as the Hills Conservation Network that is trying to stop UC’s clear-cutting and get them to use more rational methods of fire prevention.

To protect and to serve” has never been UC Police policy when it comes to student protest. Back in 1969, UC Police enforced UC policy on People’s Park. UCPD failed, and today we have a park, not a parking lot. In 1999, when hunger strikers defended Ethnic Studies, UCPD beat the protesters. Again they failed, and today Ethnic Studies has tenured faculty.

Recently, UCPD has made over 100 arrests at the oak grove, and conducted numerous raids, stealing activists’ personal property, blankets, food, water, and even leaflets, making a mockery of their alleged respect for free speech.

Many students are disgusted with UC’s misguided policies, including an undemocratic Board of Regents, designing nuclear weapons, collaboration with environmental criminal British Petroleum, and Chancellor Birgeneau’s refusal to meet with Tribal Leaders to release the 13,000 Native American remains stored in the basement of the Phoebe Hearst museum. Michael “Fresh” Schuck, a former student who withdrew from a corrupt institution, climbed a tree near Wheeler Hall in early March to raise awareness. UCPD’s response was to violate the Geneva Conventions and human rights laws by denying food and water to a peaceful protester. Several students were arrested for tossing Schuck water bottles.

UCPD malfeasance extends into racist targeting of people of color. Recently UC Police Chief Harrison met with me to discuss UCPD’s harassment of tree-sitters and the possibility of UCPD opening the gates to the oak grove to accommodate the Longest Walk, a Native America cross-continental trek to defend sacred sites and promote Native rights. After I went into the office to meet with Captain Beckford, I was arrested for an outstanding warrant—one that I had never been informed of, because UCPD mailed the citation to an incorrect address. The warrant charged me with violating the court order against the tree-sitters as well as obstructing a police officer. UCPD attempted to videotape grandmothers sending food and water to the tree-sitters on Dec. 2—the one-year anniversary party. My “Native American Burial Ground” banner allegedly interfered with their ability to spy on senior citizens armed with pies.

UC Public Affairs Executive Director Dan Mogulof assured us that UCPD would not interfere with the party. The fact that UCPD targeted me—a woman of color—was not only a violation of this commitment, but also a racist action. Many others held the banner, but only Zachary RunningWolf and myself were charged. Furthermore, UCPD abused its discretion: They could have simply informed me of the warrant. I unnecessarily spent the night in Santa Rita Jail instead of studying for midterms, and I’m wasting time with numerous court appearances.

UC has tried to spin the truth about UCPD behavior at the grove. Mogulof claims that UCPD actions, such as building fences with barbed wire and cutting traverse lines, are for the sake of safety. However, Chief Harrison admits they are “making life difficult” for those living in the trees. By cutting safety lines they are putting tree-sitters’ lives at risk. Lines have been cut and not properly removed; a tree-sitter climbed out on such a line and nearly fell to his death.

UC hides the facts about the oak grove but historian Richard Schwartz believes that the area from the faculty glade to Memorial Stadium, including the grove, is an Ohlone burial ground. UC’s refusal to meet with tribal leaders—upon whose land this university was built—is further racism, as is their 12 arrests of RunningWolf.

UCPD has no respect for veterans, either. A few months ago, a group of veterans gathered to read the names of the Californians who perished in World War I, because the stadium and the grove are a memorial to World War I Veterans. UCPD confiscated the sign bearing the veterans’ names. Recently, the last surviving U.S. veteran of the World War I, Frank Buckles, called for the oak grove to be preserved.

UCPD also abuses and ridicules persons who are disabled. Tree-sit supporter Nate Pitts, who has Asperger’s, was recently called “Forrest Gump” by a UC police officer. UCPD has used excessive physical force against Pitts and other protesters.

UCPD likes to brag about winning a court injunction against the tree-sit. An old white man’s ruling doesn’t make the tree-sit wrong—activists who sat in at segregated lunch counters in the South broke “the law” for the right reasons. The overwhelming majority of the citizens of Berkeley support the tree-sit. UCPD has been misinterpreting and abusing the court order for months. UCPD claims that speaking to tree-sitters violates the court order, a total fabrication.

UCPD serves and protects not the people, but the imperial policies of the UC Regents, many of whom are war profiteers and the governor’s political cronies. None of the Regents are democratically elected, and this lack of community participation is reflected in the Regents’ callous disregard for the concerns of the people of California. The Regents’ private militia is anything but neutral when it comes to protest and resistance to UC imperialism.

Marcella Sadlowski is a fourth-year Peace and Conflict Studies major and a member of Free Speech Free Trees Student Coalition.

Mayor Bates, at the April 14 meeting of the City Council Agenda Committee, declared that the City Council would proceed with an April 22, 2008 Public hearing on the Draft Sunshine Ordinance left behind by the city’s former city attorney. This, despite the City Council’s receipt of a letter (from the very prestigious panelists that the City Council itself had invited to participate in a March 2007 Sunshine Ordinance Workshop) requesting that the public hearing be postponed in order that a Sunshine Ordinance draft in process by a citizens’ group could also be subject to public review and consideration. This citizens’ group was initiated by, and participated in by, the very panelists whom the mayor and councilmembers had encouraged to do just that.

Mayor Bates’ declaration was supported by Councilmember Maio who said they need to forge ahead with a Public hearing because Judith Scherr, the panelist representing the Society of Professional Journalists, was “jamming” the City Council to produce a Sunshine Ordinance. Had not the councilmembers read the letter signed by Judith Scherr; Terry Francke, Cal Aware; Jinky Gardner, League of Women Voters and Mark Schlosberg, ACLU, requesting postponement of the public hearing? Why did no other councilmembers speak up? Why no motion or vote? The Agenda Committee is a standing committee which has a “continuing jurisdiction over a particular subject matter”: establishing a council’s agenda, and therefore is subject to the Brown Act regardless of whether or not a quorum is present.

The ex-city attorney’s Sunshine Ordinance would sunset open government in Berkeley. It is riddled with loopholes and written like a set of moral commandments (i.e. the City Council should…) or gracious offerings to the public if the City Council feels so inclined. (i.e. the City Council may…) rather than with legal language that has clout (i.e. the City Council shall without exception…).

A frequent critical problem is the unavailability of many of the agenda supporting documents, prior to meetings, in the viewing binder and on the website which have in place of documents an otherwise blank page stating “To Be Delivered.” The city attorney’s draft “Sunshine Ordinance” perpetuates this practice as follows: “Council agendas shall contain the recommendations made in the related agenda reports, unless the report is to be delivered after the agenda has been prepared and the precise recommendation is not know at the time the agenda is published and posted.”

As for public comment the city attorney’s draft has a mere two paragraphs and states “Public comment shall be maximized on agendas…and shall to the maximum extent feasible, permit members of the public to comment on items at the time they are taken up, subject to reasonable time limits… .” The City Council recently passed, after persevering pressure by SuperBOLD (for which SuperBOLD received the Citizen Award from the Society of Professional Journalists) a five-page resolution on Public Comment Procedures. Except for relegating most comment on non-agenda items to the end or after the meeting’s end, these procedures are a huge improvement over past practices and, at the very least, should be incorporated into a Sunshine Ordinance.

Gene Bernardi and Jane Welford are members of Berkeleyans Organized for Library Defense (SuperBOLD).

It has been a year and a half since the Memorial Stadium oak trees—now part UC Berkeley protest fame—have had to call a new kind of longhaired species resident. Perched on limbs, sitting on the sidewalk or frequenting the I-House Café, protestors continue to sit even though student support is clearly on the wane. As an athlete at UC Berkeley, I probably spend more time inside cracked and unsafe walls of Memorial Stadium than any other lecture hall, coffee house, or library on campus. The oak grove is part of my campus, and if I have learned nothing else from Berkeley’s history, I have learned that if someone is doing something I do not agree with, it is my turn—my responsibility—to stand up and have myself be heard.

So now I have to say: enough is enough. I cannot continue to watch the last protestors, the headstrong will-latch-on-to-any-cause transients, concoct the herbal aromas they blow in our direction. Why do I care so much? Before you laugh and call me “just another jock” and skip to the next op-ed, let me make my case. I am not just another athlete who wants better and safer facilities to play on. However, let’s take a moment for that argument. The stadium is our place of business: Our performance is our job and let the cliché stand: we leave our blood, sweat, tears and hearts on the field and in those walls. Just as a professor can teach anywhere, they still want the best environment they can have. Why? Because you elevate yourself to the standards around you. As a member of Memorial Stadium athletics, I think the number of elite athletes who are expected to train at the highest possible level within the small confines of the stadium is ridiculous. However, this is not my central case.

As a student in the College of Natural Resources, I was perplexed by the university’s actions concerning the oak grove. Yet, as more pressing environmental issues have come to the fore, I do not understand why the protesters have not moved on. My case against the tree-sitters is far deeper than an athlete’s need for a high-performance facility.

First of all, I fundamentally disagree with the practices of the “Save the Oaks” campaign. The protestors have already destroyed the 100-year-old grove by constructing tree forts and ropes courses, but more importantly, these extremists are tainting the name of all environmentalists, including myself, in Berkeley. Berkeley is one the front lines of a growing environmentally conscious social movement and it is not fair that the “tree people” are ruining our chances to be taken seriously.

What other issues? More than ever, newspapers have begun to take a stand on the current food crisis our world is facing. Researchers are now suggesting that struggling farmers should sell their land to the government to provide room for further scientific research into biofuels. But how is that fair for a farmer who has already had to compromise his or her ethical beliefs when they were all but forced to shift to monoculture practices, or to literally sell the farm to big business. Plainly stated, the world is in a state of crisis and Berkeley is wasting its media attention on people in trees. Environmentalist or not, the support here in Berkeley needs to be focused. One of the best, and simplest, ways to make a difference is with an option like urban gardening or agroecology, developed by Berkeley’s Miguel Altieri. Agroecology is an agricultural farming technique takes farmers away from fertilizers and pesticides in honor of cultivating a sustainable system to protect the environment. If we are thinking in idealistic terms, what if all the tree sitter’s media attention could have instead been diverted to the efforts of Altieri’s agroecology?

The tree-sitters have succeeded, but only in making Memorial Stadium a tourist site; from an environmental standpoint, the tree sitters have effectively destroyed the oaks. The current students of UC Berkeley hold within them the success of our environment’s future. As a student body we are collectively striving to make a change. If you strolled through Sproul Plaza during Earth Week last week and you would have seen that Berkeley is at the forefront of a burgeoning social movement fighting for a sustainable way of life. The students are standing while the tree sitters sit, and it’s easy to see that the time for change is now. Whether or not you support UC Berkeley athletics, it is every individual’s responsibility to be the change we wish to see.

In a recent letter Alan Tobey argues “BRT was approved by the City Council in 2001. Top bureaucrats, advocacy organizations and city policy endorse it. It’s a done deal. Stop raising questions.”

In 2001 there was no design. I am sure everyone imagined something better than the rather crude scheme which AC began circulating in 2005. City “policy,” co-authored by outspoken automobile-denying zealot citizens, endorses BRT sight-unseen. BRT is not a concept that may be endorsed in principle, like recycling. It is infrastructure. Its design is a vital consideration.

In 2005 AC Transit energetically showed early plans to whoever would pay attention. Concerned about its potentially devastating impact on the downtown pedestrian environment, a local landscape architect sat down with tracing paper, scale and plans of downtown. In a few hours he produced several alternate deployment schemes for downtown. These showed exciting possibilities, none of embodied are contained in AC’s plans. They also demonstrated that AC’s “design” is nothing more than a concept diagram. This was the origin of my conviction and my activism on this issue. At the time, Berkeley city officials admitted off the record, “yeah, the city needs to do that stuff.” But the city hasn’t.

And if we say “whatever you wish” to these plans as Mr. Tobey urges—giving cover to the City Council to “approve”—there is no incentive for the city to do it.

AC Transit planners are engineers, not designers, as they frankly declare. Moreover, AC Transit has never attempted the design of a mass transit system, with dedicated lanes, stations and platforms. AC Transit is not a landscape architecture firm. It has no smarts about preserving viability of local business. Its computer models to predict what will happen to the cars cannot fully predict human adaptive behavior. AC Transit needs help with this. And the help has to originate in each locale even though the cities don’t have AC Transit’s design budget. AC Transit can’t help but thrash round clumsily in our downtown and on our Telegraph Avenue. It needs to partner with design consultants who are working for and accountable to Berkeley. In collaboration, AC Transit and our people need to author schemes which preserve the downtown pedestrian environment, avoids killing off Telegraph and Shattuck Avenue businesses, and adequately provides for car and bicycle traffic on Telegraph. Omitting this vital step is unthinkable.

Do you think it will happen if we are silent, giving it premature endorsement?

Bruce Wicinas

Berkeley citizen

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LET’S NOT BE FOOLED BY RAPID BUS PLUS

Editors, Daily Planet:

Opponents of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) for Telegraph Avenue and downtown have been proposing an alternative they claim to be “just as good, cheaper, and without the negative impacts” of BRT. They call this “Rapid Bus Plus,” and propose it as an improvement on today’s “regular” 1R Rapid Bus service through the addition of a proof-of-payment (POP) ticketing system and “bulbouts” (sidewalk widenings) at the stops. “Rapid Bus Plus” stops short of BRT by omitting dedicated lanes for the service, a feature which is critical to creating a transit system that can compete with the private automobile in speed, efficiency, and reliability.

The term “Rapid Bus Plus” is an ad hoc term created by Berkeleyans for Better Transit Options (BBTOP), a citizens’ group opposed to BRT with dedicated lanes on Telegraph Avenue. A Google search for “Rapid Bus Plus” comes up with links to Berkeley or the AC Transit BRT proposal - and nothing else.

This confirms the truth: Rapid Bus Plus is a diversion created by BRT opponents and is never among the well-studied options considered by transit professionals. In contrast, more than 25 US cities have already implemented or are in the process of implementing a full BRT project that includes dedicated lanes to keep buses from being entangled in ordinary traffic.

If any city anywhere is implementing Rapid Bus Plus, we would welcome the information so that we can all learn from the experience.

Len Conly

Friends of BRT

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A PROPOSAL

Editors, Daily Planet:

I think the proposal to generate additional revenue by charging for parking at meters in downtown Berkeley during nighttime hours is very short sighted. First of all, this will be the death knoll for many downtown businesses, including restaurants and movie theaters. It is already difficult to park in downtown Berkeley. I, as well as many people I know, avoid this area “like a plague", whenever possible, when there are so many other options for restaurant dining and movie viewing, that have free and accessible parking nearby. This is also a negative way to generate revenue. It will make people angry, will reduce the nighttime visitors to this area, and have a negative impact on businesses that stay open during evening hours.

Instead, why not put a positive spin on gaining additional income by making it fun as well as profitable? For example, how about creating the first ever annual Traffic Circle Design Contest? The city could ask local businesses to donate prizes such as a dinner for two, or a pair of movie tickets to downtown businesses.

Prizes could run the gamut from:

1. Best Dressed Traffic Circle.

2. Most Creative Design.

3. Most Imaginative.

4. Most Colorful.

5. Greenest.

6. And so forth.

You could charge individuals and block associations, let’s say, $10, per category, per submission, and encourage them to submit as many ideas and or existing designs or photos for each category to be included in the competition.

This will be followed up by the judging of the ideas and designs and then the first ever, Traffic Circle Annual Awards Ceremony, to be held in MLK Park, on a Saturday afternoon, next to the Farmers Market.

Now, wouldn’t that be fun? and generate revenue? and make people excited about donating money to the City of Berkeley?

Chandra Hauptman

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IN DEFENSE OF BICYCLE TRAILERS

Editors, Daily Planet:

What a difference in perspective! Amanda Duisman (Letters, April 22) wants to ban bicycle trailers because she thinks they are unsafe for small children, while I bought one, in part, because I thought it would be safer than carrying a child on the back of my bike. I will not try to convince her of this here, as I am afraid she will then just want to ban both.

If we ban activities for people’s own good, where do we stop? Baby strollers? Kids on bikes? Pedestrians?

Do we ignore social justice? Not everybody owns a car. What about the health aspects of exercise? Driven everywhere, our kids become obese, and are prone to early onset diabetes and heart problems.

Most motor vehicles have safety systems, but nonetheless, 87 percent of people killed by motor vehicles are occupants of the vehicles themselves, while less than 2 percent of those killed are cyclists. Increasing the number of cyclists (or even pedestrians) by a little bit will increase their exposure to cars, but if you increase their number enough to significantly decrease vehicular traffic it should actually reduce the total number of fatalities.

I have saved the perhaps most significant issue for last. Motor vehicles are major contributors to global climate change. What value is the supposed safety of transporting our children by car if by doing so we destroy the future for their children?

Robert Clear

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ALSO IN DEFENSE OF BICYCLE TRAILERS

Editors, Daily Planet:

Dear me. Let me see if I get this straight. Having a child wear a helmet, or putting a flag on your bike trailer, proves that you know it’s dangerous to take the kid with you. By this logic, shouldn’t those of us who used child seats before the law required them have kept our children out of cars altogether, since we evidently were aware of the risks? One in 100 Americans dies in an auto accident, but no one suggests that children should not be transported in cars.

What the odds are for a child in a bike cart is hard to determine, since there aren’t that many out there as yet, but I imagine parents bike more carefully than most people, which is to say that they probably have fewer accidents than average. (Could be that’s also true of parents driving cars.)

Like the writers, I am old enough to be a grandmother, though so far not lucky enough. Over 25 years ago, I was hauling my kids by bicycle cart, and we all lived to tell the tale. They said they enjoyed riding with me on errands and to daycare. If they were traumatized, it’s had an odd result—both are bike riders, and our daughter is a part owner of Pedal Express, Berkeley’s bike messenger service. Should she ever bless us with a descendent, I hope and expect she’ll bring it to visit us by bicycle.

I don’t mean to minimize the danger to children from cars. But that danger peaks when, inevitably, they get old enough to walk, bike, and eventually drive, without adult supervision. The way to improve their odds is to crack down on speeding, red light running, and violations of pedestrian right-of-way.

Ann Sieck

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STILL MORE IN DEFENSE OF BICYCLE TRAILERS

Editors, Daily Planet:

I just wanted to comment on the child safety concerns raised about bicycle trailers. A previous letter objected to these trailers and favored child seats that can be mounted on the bicycle. While there isn’t a perfect, 100 percent risk-proof way to carry a child with you on a bicycle ride (any more than in a car), I believe that under most circumstances a trailer is safer than a mounted seat.

When a seat is mounted on the bike, it affects the center of gravity of the bike, and makes it less stable and more difficult to control. If the worst happens, and the bicycle falls over, the child will go with it—and have no protection from the road, or other obstacles he or she might fall into.

A trailer, on the other hand, is stable independent of the bike. It doesn’t affect the center of gravity, and minimally affects the handling of the bike. If the bicycle and rider fall over, many trailers will not—they are attached by a pivot specifically to guard against flipping over. They also have a seatbelt and a structure that protect the child if anything does hit the trailer.

For this reason, I have felt comfortable taking my four-month-old with us on bicycle outings in his trailer. Because he’s so little, to give him added protection and to make sure his head doesn’t get jostled too much, I have used his car seat inside the trailer. We don’t take him into heavy traffic: most of Shattuck Avenue is definitely not a very safe route for bikes with kid trailers, just because there are so many cars—but there are lots of “bicycle boulevards” and less-crowded roads to use instead.

Bad things can happen to kids, no doubt about that, but he’s safer in that trailer than he would be out of it.

Gabriella Raymond

•

CHANGE IN FORMAT

Editors, Daily Planet:

The newspaper business is failing as I well know from personal experience. I had a management position at the largest chain around here that ended a year ago. Frankly, the great majority of newspapers do not deserve to survive. They all take their editorial cues from the gray New York Times, now in serious trouble itself. You can predict their views on everything from guns to climate change with your eyes closed.

Which brings me to the Berkeley Daily Planet’s alleged reason for cutting back. Let’s drop all the greening nonsense. By that logic no one should ever publish anything because that would save all the trees. No one should ever use any resources because that is interfering with our “limited” supply ! That these resources sat unused for thousands of years while people were starving to death goes unmentioned. The liberal left has become a giant nanny scold crying “Doom !” all the time. Every pleasure from drinking to smoking to hunting to driving is now the enemy and we should all wear a hairshirt in perpetuity for “nature” and the backward regions of the planet.

I bet the Daily Planet is cutting back for financial reasons. Now if anyone can verify the rumor that KPFA is cutting airtime 50 percent to lessen airwaves pollution that would be nice.

Michael P. Hardesty

Oakland

•

APPLE MOTH SPRAYING

Editors, Daily Planet:

Now that the powers that be (a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge and the Schwarzenegger Administration) have agreed to temporarily suspend the threatened aerial spraying of pesticide gas over much of the Bay Area in an attempt to sexually harass a small brown moth, we need to force a complete and final end to this insane plan.

The incompetent Bush administration has been wrong about almost everything in the last seven years; why

does anyone in their right mind possibly think that they would be right about a supposed big threat posed by the presence of the light brown apple moth (Epiphyas postvittana)?

American apple growers originally lobbied the federal United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to classify this small moth as a big threat to their crops as a way of cutting down on competition from New Zealand apple exporters. It worked for a few years, and forced the New Zealand apple growers to undertake unnecessary and toxic sprayings of their orchards. This moth has been living in New Zealand for about a century and is considered to be a minor agricultural pest there.

This moth, a native to Australia, has also lived in New Caledonia, Hawai’i and England for many years. These areas are still green and agriculturally productive. The residents and the farmers of Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Hawai’i and England have managed to co-exist with this moth without having to resort to the aerial pesticide

spraying of entire cities and towns.

But now that this moth has been discovered in California, other countries can and are demanding that this state take steps to eliminate the presence of the moth. So the discovered presence of the Apple Moth is a threat to the potential export profits of American apple growing corporations, it is not an actual threat to the growing of the apples. Hoisted on their own petard! Just agribusiness corporate greed coming home to roost, so to speak.

A quick search of the Internet will reveal that the supposed presence of agricultural insect pests is the basis of many ongoing trade battles and trade wars between different food-producing countries and food-consuming nations. This brown apple moth brouhaha is just the latest conflict to appear recently in our California news media as a major story. Our apple farmers and our state and federal agricultural experts need to consult with apple growers in New Zealand and Australia and find some low-key biological controls as a remedy for the presence of the moth. The USDA should rejoin the real world and immediately downgrade this bogus threat level posed by the presence of this moth.

Please write letters to your City Council representatives, your County supervisors, your State representatives and your Federal representatives and tell them “no” to any aerial spraying of pesticides or any other poison gases in the Bay Area.

James K. Sayre

Oakland

•

FRANKENNEGGER HAIKU

Editors, Daily Planet:

i shall close your schools;

then you invent more machines

to teach your children.

Arnie Passman

•

ABU GHRAIB: FOUR YEARS AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED

Editors, Daily Planet:

It has been four years since we learned of the torture at Abu Ghraib and our government still has not acted to restore America’s honor by unequivocally banning torture and other forms of cruel treatment.

I encourage anyone who does not believe that the Bush Administration did not orchestrate the torture techniques to read Philip Zimbardo’s “The Lucifer Effect.” Zimbardo did an experiment back in 1971 with Stanford students that emulated what happens when they are divided up into prisoners and guards and given very little guidance. The result: what he calls a “ ‘perfect storm’ which leads good people to engage in evil actions.”

Zimbardo testified at one of the court-martials that it is the system of vague rules, implicit approval and assured immunity that led to the abuse of prisoners. (His testimony was later dismissed.) While the actual acts were perpetrated by individuals, the authority structure was intentionally designed to allow such abuses to occur. The resulting abuse has been not only harmful to the prisoners but also the guards has led us “moral” outsiders to erroneously characterize them both as “monsters.”

This complete disregard for a person’s humanity, that of the prisoner as well as our troops acting as guards, goes against treating humans with dignity and respect. We have flouted the Geneva Convention to the detriment of our own captured troops, but also to our souls as human beings.

Mr. Bush has all but left the car on cruise control as he speeds his way to whatever is next for him after his term is over. It’s up to the next president to restore America’s moral authority. The next president must swear off the use of torture by any and all U.S. agencies, order a complete investigation into this system of abuse, and establish clear guidelines of interrogation. We will not only be attempting to restore the humanity of those we incarcerate, but also our own humanity.

Both are at stake.

Evans McGowan

San Anselmo

•

RODEOS

Editors, Daily Planet:

The Red Bluff Round-up dodged a serious bullet on April 20 when a rodeo bull, “Blue Steel,” jumped an eight-foot fence into the audience, injuring six people in the process, three of them children. It’s a miracle that no one was killed. The story made the national news.

But simply to say that this was an unavoidable “fluke” begs the issue, and rodeos around the country are setting themselves up for tragedies and lawsuits if they don’t do something to prevent such occurrences in the future. I’m reminded of the recent incident at the San Francisco Zoo when a tiger jumped a 15-foot moat and wall, and killed a zoo visitor. That, too, could be considered a “fluke,” yet zoos around the country, indeed world, immediately took a hard look at their public and animal safety policies and requirements, and changes were made.

The rodeo community needs to follow suit for the protection of both the fans and the animals. Is there any sort of national standard for rodeo arenas? Should there be a 9-foot minimum fence requirement at all arenas, for instance? It’s time for various state legislatures to take a look at this issue.

All California legislators may be written in care of the State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814.

Eric Mills, coordinator

Action for Animals

Oakland

•

SOFT TOUCH

Editors, Daily Planet:

My advice to Dorothy Snodgrass (Letters, April 25): Don’t be a soft touch. I also hate finding more address labels in my mail. My response: I refuse to give money to any organization that sends me labels or offers any kind of “free prize” in return for my donation. And I tell them so by sending a note in their return envelope, pointing out that they’re wasting money that should be going to their cause, and further that the adhesive labels cannot be recycled like other paper.

Jerry Landis

•

MEDIA AND THE ELECTION

Editors, Daily Planet:

I am really angry at both the Democratic and Republican parties for allowing the media to select our presidential candidates. Where is their spine? How dare they allow the media to decide who to include and exclude in the debates, and to set up the questions and the formats! The parties should have acted to prevent this. And I think this is not the first election that this has happened—the media chose Kerry last time.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I do believe that there are a lot of corrupt people out there who will to anything to attain power. They will corrupt our voting machines (Ohio), corrupt voter lists (Florida), corrupt the caucus process (Iowa), and corrupt media coverage (think Edwards and Kucinich).

Who is protecting the democratic process? Maybe we need foreign observers like other countries? A U.N. presence? We certainly live in strange times.

Margot Smith

•

HEAL THE ANGER

Editors, Daily Planet:

I wonder if we can find a way to heal the anger of students who scrawl graffiti on school walls. I know the students feel frustrated. Some of the frustration comes from the discipline necessary in any place of education. But some of the frustration comes from a curriculum which is not adapted for low achievers. The curriculum for low achievers should develop those skills which can make students economically self-sufficient. At the same time teachers and counselors should be encouraged to identify non-academic talents of students which are worthy of praise.

We may need to find new learning streams for low achievers. So that their frustration doesn’t keep mounting.

Not long after the environmental laws were passed a court concluded that “a search for alternatives need not be exhaustive.” Seems that is the way the Bus Rapid Transit study is going, even with all the ideas expressed in letters to the Daily Planet. It’s another take-it-or-leave-it study with the preferred alternative a variation of a central theme.

Robert C, Chioino

•

NAME CALLING

Editors, Daily Planet:

Choosing Clinton over Obama does not make me a racist. Choosing Obama over Clinton does not make me a misogynist. Choosing McCain over either does not make me a fascist.

It is a shame that some of us resort to argumentum ad hominem to discourage those with opposing viewpoints from participating in the political process, as if one person’s opinion matters more than the next.

Matthew Mitschang

•

THE MONEY BEHIND BRT

Editors, Daily Planet:

Charles Siegel asks in his April 22 letter about Bus Rapid Transit, “[W]hy is BRT with exclusive bus lanes being used or proposed in 25 cities cross the United States?” The answer is very simple. Bus Rapid Transit is being pushed by the Bush administration, and funding is therefore available for it.

An Oakland Tribune article of June 4, 2007 quoted AC Transit Board member Chris Peeples, “There’s been (Bush) administration support for these things, and we managed to get into the latest authorization of the latest transportation bill.” This enabled AC Transit to tap into a Department of Transportation program called New Starts, usually reserved for rail projects, for $75 million for BRT.

Information about BRT myths and about federal policies can be found at www.lightrailnow.org. BRT is all about money from Washington, and not about good transportation service.

Casey Silva

•

CAPITELLI’S VISION

Editors, Daily Planet:

If Councilmember Laurie Capitelli seeks a dialogue with the community about improvements in the North Shattuck shopping district, why does he continue to push his own personal vision for the area in the face of the overwhelming opposition of residents and merchants?

He has tried several times to push his views upon the community, but they have been rejected each time. His latest attempt is to sneak his North Shattuck Plaza idea into the Berkeley Pedestrian Master Plan. Doesn’t he know that 1,136 people have signed a petition against the plaza, and 32 merchants in the Shattuck-Vine-Rose area have signed a petition against it as well?

Is this a Councilmember who is listening to his constituent’s?

Art Goldberg

•

CHILD SAFETY

Editors, Daily Planet:

Please thank Amanda Duisman for her April 22 letter of concern about the orange-tented innocents who are being transported via bicycles on city streets behind their presumably oblivious parents. I have never understood what appears to be a pretty cavalier attitude that runs rampant among a demographic that exudes political correctness and environmental sensitivity, not to mention promoting a more liberal, child-friendly society.

Back in the day—as it were—we strapped our children into seats that rested on the bike’s back bumper and with equal nonchalance rode in town. I am now a grandmother and even I realize in retrospect that this introduction to the “streets” was equally as insane. However, at least automobile exhaust fumes, large tire treads and the limited vision of heavily trafficked street intersections wasn’t at the face level of babies!

Perhaps adults should be required to climb into something equally fragile and potentially dangerous while being driven along Shattuck Avenue? Are we so out of touch with reality that putting our children at risk has become a sort of political finger to people who drive cars? And, are people who are old enough to be grandparents, so hopelessly intimidated by a younger generation of parents that we are afraid to publicly comment on something that appears so lacking in common sense?

I would very much like to hear from parents on this subject, particularly those that opt for whatever these transports are called. Please help me understand!

Julie Weeks

•

ANOTHER SECRET DEAL

WITH UC?

Editors, Daily Planet:

There is a rumor going around town that Mayor Bates has reached a secret agreement with UC Berkeley to drop the city’s lawsuit challenging the massive university construction projects planned for the Memorial Stadium area—the so-called Southeast Campus Integrated Projects. Why do so many believe this rumor? For starters, that is exactly what Mayor Bates did in 2005 regarding the city’s lawsuit over serious flaws in UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). At that time, Mayor Bates entered into secret talks with Chancellor Birgeneau and caved in to UC’s misguided expansion plans—without getting a single mitigation to help neighborhoods deal with the many problems caused by UC’s continued growth. And that secret agreement was being negotiated at the same time that Bates was telling the public he would make no deal without full disclosure to the public ahead of time, and full citizen participation in discussing the merits of any such proposal. Berkeley residents were betrayed.

The fact that the city had to sue the university again almost immediately after that secret deal shows how bad the agreement was, and how poorly Bates represented the city’s interests. In short, we got taken. And we are still paying the price today. The current lawsuits against the university—including the city’s lawsuit—stem directly from shortcomings in the LRDP that Bates left unchallenged.

It is my hope that the members of the City Council have learned their lesson, and they will not turn their backs on the public and approve another secret deal with the university. This situation also points out how valuable public participation is in a democracy. To be blunt: If citizens had been allowed at the table, we would not have approved such a bad deal.

It also points out how much we need an effective Sunshine Ordinance in Berkeley, which would prevent all such secret backroom deals in the first place. For now, all we can do is let the Mayor and the Council members know that we are watching them very closely regarding this issue, and there will be serious repercussions if they betray us again. “Recall” is the word I have heard passing from some lips. But I have to admit, at this point that is simply a rumor.

Doug Buckwald

•

TREE SIT

Editors, Daily Planet:

With the revelation of irregularities in the re-hiring of Victoria Harrison, the arrests at the Oak Grove Tree Sit become even more suspect than they already were. Victoria Harrison and Nathan Bromstrom’s claim lays heavily on the false premise that the situation at the grove is so out of control, so dangerous, that they didn’t have time to look for someone else, Vicky was re-hired in an emergency situation.

That type of fake scenario is hard to paint when working with peaceful protesters, so the best option the cops have is to just arrest people for wishy-washy reasons, then trump up the accusations. There have been a series of unprovoked arrests at the Tree Sit. In some cases people have been arrested for merely speaking to the trees. One of the bigger lies the cops concocted was a tale of chemical warfare; cops allegedly at death’s door from an unknown chemical agent spread by a violent domestic terrorist. In less than two weeks the bogus story fell apart, and the cops had to redact it quietly. For Vicky and Bromstrom to get way with their little scandal, they need to make the tree sit look spooky by any means necessary. Certainly now the public and the media is going to question further any press releases and any tales of woe by Vicky and the cops.

Nate Pitts

Friend of the Tree Sit

•

CAMPAIGN THEATER

Editors, Daily Planet:

Three serious contenders are left in the wasteful marathon to determine who will be our next president. In order to win the Oval Office each must act as if he or she is already there and do so with such skill that the electorate perceives the pretense as a preview. In this regard, candidates bear a burden more daunting than the toughest roles for stage or screen; their performance is in fact so demanding that they require the assistance of a multitude of advisors, “stage hands” ever ready on five minutes notice, day or night, to prompt the candidate with special bits of information.

Let’s face it. This country is too big for one person to run, whether it be McCain, Clinton or Obama; there’re too many problems and there’s too much complexity—crisis in mortgages, recession, medical care, environmental care, torture of detainees, foreign policy, chaos in Iraq, resurging Taliban in Afghanistan, and dozens more including at least one as yet unknown. The immensity of problems and issues requires the candidate to retain dozens of knowledgeable advisors, including a team to deal with distractions and detractions.

How well or poorly the next occupant of the Oval Office will handle the nation’s many problems is any one’s guess. It is, unfortunately, more than likely that little will change. Why? Because all three aspirants choose their entourage of advisors from the same pool: scholars, former advisors, retired elected, appointed and military officers, pundits, and academic specialists of all stripes.

Let’s be serious. No matter who becomes the 44th president he or she will be little more than a stand-in for an ensemble of several dozen close advisors. Perhaps we should revise our national motto and change its subject: e pluribus unus (una).

Marvin Chachere

San Pablo

•

ENOUGH ALREADY!

Editors, Daily Planet:

I believe I can claim in all honesty that I hold the world’s record for acquiring more address labels than anyone else on this planet! They arrive with alarming frequency. When going down for my mail each day, I utter a silent prayer to the Almighty, “Please, please—let there be no more address labels!”

My prayer goes unheeded. There’s always a new batch.

Mind you, I must admit these labels represent very worthwhile charities and legitimate organizations. To name only a few: Aids Foundation, Alzheimer’s, American Diabetes Association, American Lung Association, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Disabled American Veterans, Easter Seals, Human Rights Watch, March of Dimes, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, National Foundation for Cancer Research, Nature Conservancy, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Project Open Hand, Sierra Club, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and UNICEF. All deserving of contributions, but where, oh where, to draw the line?

This may be a slight exaggeration, but at the moment I have enough address labels to paper my apartment, form a path the entire length of Telegraph Avenue from Berkeley to Oakland; decorate the Golden Gate Bridge, and scale the top of Mount Diablo. In desperation, I sort through the stack piled high on my dining room table, happily tossing out those labels that misspell my name or show an incorrect apartment number.

I won’t pretend that I donate to all these charities and organizations, but I give considerable thought to which ones I’ll select. While I’m puzzled that Disabled American Veterans and Paralyzed Veterans of America both ask for contributions, how can I ignore appeals from either of these organizations benefiting soldiers who’ve served in both Vietnam and Iraq? Likewise, I can’t dismiss the Aids Foundation and Alzheimer Research seeking ways to wipe out the scourge of this century. So, after carefully selecting those organizations that serve such vital roles in our society, I get out my check book and send modest donations, fully aware that brand new labels will arrive in the mail, adding to strong guilt feelings if I don’t divvy up!

Laurie Capitelli begins his April 18 Daily Planet commentary standing at Vine looking south “down a vibrant Shattuck Avenue thronging with pedestrians…spilling out across traffic to claim and use the grass median strip.” What he does not say, is that this thronging mass of pedestrians does not continue down Shattuck Avenue or continue into the real downtown of Berkeley.

When I disembark at the downtown BART station and walk home via Shattuck Avenue to North Berkeley I see a more complete picture. Getting off the train, it is hard not to notice that downtown is shabby and worn and needs to be revitalized. The buildings that have recently been built downtown lack inspiration and have done little to reinvigorate the area with the positive energy we would like in a city center. As I cross University Avenue and walk north, I notice that blocks of new five- story buildings, painted artificially Tuscan to cover their inherent blandness and lack of character, stand like cloned soldiers on the east side of Shattuck Avenue. Apartments are apparently on the top floors of the buildings and offices on the ground floor. Many of these ground floor offices are empty or perhaps not even completed. There are few people walking the sidewalks in this area. As I cross Delaware, I walk into what I call my neighborhood. The one- or two-story buildings are more human scale, the architecture more interesting, and the area more friendly with people busily walking the streets. The shops and restaurants are busy because they are local businesses in tune with the local populace. I feel lucky to call this part of Berkeley my home.

It is predominately an area of owner-occupied homes. The area is dotted with parks to provide tranquility in an urban environment. There are walking paths that crisscross the area leading to other commercial areas or to other neighborhoods within the area. I like the sense of place, the personality and the community I have found in this part of Berkeley. I like the quality of life that the local, the small, and the individualistic produce. Apparently, others feel the same way, because even though there are some things that can be improved, the North Berkeley area essentially works.

Before any improvements in this area are planned, it would be wise to ponder what makes the “gourmet ghetto” one of the most vital parts of Berkeley, for it is very easy to kill what we love in North Berkeley. The Vision Committee, a subgroup of LOCCNA, set upon this task when we wrote our Vision Statement in response to David Stoloff’s plan. Although there was some disagreement within LOCCNA (as stated in the Fred Dodsworth article), we united around the concepts behind the Vision Statement. It was endorsed at a well attended meeting of LOCCNA members and it was endorsed by the Northside Neighborhood Association. It would be well for Laurie Capitelli to respond to the issues contained within that document and answer truthfully the fear of many North Berkeley residents: Is this movement to enhance North Berkeley with green and pedestrian space only a ruse or a prelude to building the dead architecture and high rise apartments that are now creeping up Shattuck Avenue? I question the sincerity of Capitelli’s statement that we should work together with a “shared commitment to bring improvement to our neighborhood.” When I am on Vine looking south on Shattuck, I like what I see up to Delaware, but looking further south on Shattuck I dread what might be coming north.

Posted Mon., April 28—From the beginning, the idea of converting an industrial property in the middle of our manufacturing district to recreational fields and a skate park, was pure folly.

Like the lie that requires another to cover up its dishonesty, the planning and rezoning of the park complex have led to a series of outrageous decisions, and of course, more of our tax dollars being spent to “fix” a multitude of mistakes.

It should surprise no one that the consequences of such an extreme shift in the area’s zoning are never-ending. The latest round of bad news from the skate complex is a request for its complete replacement, despite being only five years old. The city’s staff, whose bungling has squandered nearly a million local tax dollars, is now proposing a skate park bond for two million more.

Undoubtedly, none of the city’s so-called professional staff or council who signed off on the ill-fated sports complex ever thought their decisions would come back to bite them. Had this project been a private construction, many on the planning team would have been fired. From its opening days in 2003 when the complex was abruptly closed because of toxic groundwater seepage, Harrison skate park has been a gnarly ride for Berkeley. Now it appears to be in an irreversible backslide and headed for a wipeout.

Make it work at any cost

The first cracks in the skate park project were not seen in the concrete bowls, but in the planning process itself. This breakdown started a decade ago when Berkeley began negotiating with the University of California for the contaminated property at Fourth and Harrison streets. It was then that the city began meeting privately with Berkeley resident, Doug Fielding, and a former City Council member, Fred Collignon, who is also an associate professor of city and regional planning at Cal.

These two insiders were also responsible for organizing the very vocal special interest group of soccer parents and skateboarders that pressured the City of Berkeley to build recreational fields at the current location. Few elected officials were willing to voice any opposition to the project and thereby run the risk of becoming a political target.

Since that time, former council member Diane Woolley has offered some insight into the process. “Fielding was heavy-handed, overbearing, single-minded, and shortsighted during the entire process.” She also has stated, “It was understood by the council members that this project was to be approved quickly and questions about health hazards were swept away in the rush.”

As political pressures over the creation of the Harrison sports park mounted, the soccer lobby sought the special support of city manager Weldon Rucker. His “make-it-work-at-any-cost” stance quickly silenced all staff opposition. Rucker’s office even authorized funding for Doug Fielding to oversee the development of a site plan, months before the council had approved the project’s use permit. The city manager apparently also worked out a plan to forego a public bidding process for this municipal development. Instead, the contract was awarded to Fielding’s new group, Association of Sports Field Users (ASFU).

The city didn’t seem to care that this non-profit was barely a year old and had no track record. Further evidence of its influence was the fact that council enacted a special ordinance allowing ASFU to manage the project, with a ceiling of two million dollars! The council’s extraordinary action was the source of many problems and much confusion, forcing the city’s planning team to spend numerous extra hours in aiding ASFU’s development of the site.

A “comedy” of errors

Despite what Fielding has recently stated, the city did little to conduct an honest site investigation, including its failure to even complete a Phase One Study. Such a review would have looked at off-site problems that could potentially affect the project. This is why the toxic Hexavalent Chromium (Chromium-6) was not encountered earlier.

Another reason for this toxic surprise may be found in Berkeley’s own Toxics Department. The record reflects that our staff environmental expert, Dr. Al-Hadithy, was obviously aware of the Chromium-6 groundwater plume, but simply failed to speak up. This in turn allowed the excavation of the skate bowls to play out like the opening of an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies, only this time, instead of oil, “up through the ground came a-bubbling Chrome-6.” It was a very costly mistake that project proponents seem to have forgotten.

In the aftermath of the Chromium-6 crisis, the skateboard site was forced to undergo a redesign. During the initial review in 2000, Parks’ Director Lisa Carrona was publicly told that the new skate park plan was underestimating the challenge to isolate the toxic groundwater. Questions were also raised about site soils and the structure’s stability.

“When a swimming pool-like concrete structure, such as the skate facility, is built in a flood-zone area, long-term problems with the stability of the structure can be expected. No subsurface structures should be allowed at this location, especially the skate bowls.”

Today Carrona continues to be a cheerleader for the skate park. Even the Toxics Director Dr. Al-Hadithy has been quoted recently, saying that the cracks in the bowls are not due to the groundwater. This is absolute nonsense. His unqualified opinion is apparently an attempt to refocus liability costs onto the project’s subcontractors.

Air quality monitoring

The recent public pronouncements from ASFU’s founder, Doug Fielding, conveniently revise the air quality history of the site as well. Perhaps Mr. Fielding doesn’t remember calling the air monitoring stupid, or that because of that study certain members of the city’s staff should be fired. Nor does he seem to remember the many vicious attacks on those in the public who dared to call the site’s air quality into serious question.

For the record, the final monitoring report revealed that the air quality at the site was twice as bad as downtown San Jose. Playing at the soccer fields is comparable to playing in heavy traffic. More than one hundred times a year, the site exceeds the state’s PM-10 particulate standards. In fact, the air monitoring study forced the city to post warning signs and required parents to sign an environmental wavier acknowledging these conditions prior to their children being allowed to use the soccer fields.

Today there is no question that the site’s air quality is much worse than was found in the 2003 year-long study. It was noted that even during that period of testing, there was a noticeable increase in particulate levels, most of which is probably coming from the city’s own operations at the Second Street Transfer Station.

Last year the community monitored the air around the skate park for metal particulates emitted by Pacific Steel Casting, a foundry within a quarter mile of the sports complex. The Berkeley Air Monitors study showed unhealthy levels of nickel and manganese have also been impacting this municipal park.

Putting good money after bad

Even the city’s attorney’s office has got into the spin game over Harrison Park. They stated that perhaps their office made some “missteps,” but that they were in no way connected to the influence exerted by the soccer lobby or city council. The city has threatened to look into the possible liability of the subcontractors. This is very unlikely. The city knows full well that a real investigation of the Harrison site would only daylight the project’s ongoing problems and the city’s culpability in the skate park debacle.

From its conception, Berkeley’s skate park has had a history of bad government and poor choices, perhaps all made for the right reasons. However, good intentions can’t justify abridging our planning practices or ignoring the checks and balances of our zoning ordinances. Having a viable skate park could be a great asset for our city, but at this ill-chosen location, it is, and always will be, a serious health and financial liability.

L A Wood is a Berkeley resident and runs the civic watchdog website www.berkeleycitizen.org.

Posted Mon., April 28—Over the past week top Pentagon officials have upped the Bush regime’s verbal attacks against Iran in what may be a prelude to actual military attacks.

On April 21, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates delivered a speech at the West Point military academy where he accused Iran of being a rogue nation that supports “terrorism; that is a destabilizing force throughout the Middle East and Southwest Asia and, in my judgment, is hellbent on acquiring nuclear weapons.” He went on to say, “Another war in the Middle East is the last thing we need. And in fact, I believe it would be disastrous on a number of levels. But the military option must be kept on the table, given the destabilizing policies of the regime and the risks inherent in a future Iranian nuclear threat – either directly or through nuclear proliferation.” Gates and all other top Bush administration officials, including the president, continually emphasize that the military option is always on the table in regard to Iran.

On April 25, in an indication of how real the “military option” is, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, stated, “I have no expectations that we’re going to get into a conflict with Iran in the immediate future,”but he emphasized the U.S. military has reserve capability, particularly in the Navy and Air Force and based in other regions. “So it would be a mistake to think that we are out of combat capability.”

Mullen did not define what he meant by “immediate future,” but he went on to say he is “increasingly concerned about Iran’s activity, not just in Iraq, but throughout the region. I believe recent events, especially the Basra operation, have revealed just how much and just how far Iran is reaching into Iraq to foment instability. Their support to criminal groups in the form of munitions and training, as well as other assistance they are providing and the attacks they are encouraging continues to kill coalition and Iraqi personnel.” Mullen said that General David Petraeus is preparing a briefing that details these activities and that the report is expected in the next couple of weeks. The report is expected to detail the discovery in Iraq of weapons that were very recently manufactured in Iran, according to Mullen.

We can expect that this latest Petraeus report will be used as further justification for a possible future attack on Iran by the White House. In the midst of the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is frightening to think of a third war being launched by the Bush regime, but given the administration’s record it is a very real possibility.

The same day Mullen was launching his verbal attack at Iran, a U.S. Navy official reported that a U.S. military contracted cargo ship on Thursday fired several “warning” shots at two boats that approached it off the Iranian coast. This is similar to other incidents in Iranian coastal waters. Will such an incident be used as the “trigger” to justify war against Iran in the future? It is not beyond the realm of possibility if we remember the alleged incident in the Tonkin Gulf which led to Congress approving war against Vietnam.

These recent verbal assaults are a continuation of previous rhetoric aimed at Iran by the Bush regime. They do not necessarily mean that war is imminent, but we should not be lulled into thinking the Bush regime will remain content to only fire verbal shots at Iran. The White House and its military machine have done everything possible to keep tensions high in the region and will continue to do so. The Bush administration regularly links Iran to terrorism and accuses it of supplying weapons and training to those fighting U.S. forces in Iraq. In addition, the accusation that Iran is attempting to obtain nukes has been levied by just about every top official in the Bush regime.

Keep in mind that similar charges were made by the Bush regime before it invaded Iraq. Because of this, we can not afford to be complacent in the face of this latest round of attacks. The only guarantee that the Bush administration will not be able to launch another war that will be devastating to the people of the world is if we drive the regime from power. As long as Bush and his henchmen and women remain in the White House, they are a threat to not only the Iranian people, but to all of the world.

Kenneth J. Theisen is an organizer with the World Can’t Wait! Drive out the Bush Regime! and an Oakland resident.

With respect to the North Shattuck Plaza, a proposal which recently resurfaced in the city’s Master Pedestrian Plan, and whose “comment period” has recently ended, I write concerning both the issue and the process. To the issue of the plaza as proposed I stand opposed. The process to which I refer is that of government imposition of such plans (to which I stand opposed) without the active and informed participation in their formulation by those who will be effected by them. A “comment period” does not constitute participation.

We who have been active against the plaza for over a year now, since the first attempt to impose such a plan, feel that the majority of people in the North Shattuck neighborhood oppose a plaza, while a few people support it. We have gathered a petition of approximately 1,000 signatures of people who oppose the plaza, which has been submitted to the appropriate city offices. There is also a petition of merchants from the two blocks along Shattuck Avenue in question, including Safeway and Andronicos, opposing the plaza. Since the issue has re-emerged, there has been extensive discussion on mailing lists and among neighbors concerning this proposal, both for and against. If all this takes the form and the aura of a protest movement and a neighborhood association, what the existence of such a movement proves is that the avenues of democratic participation are insufficient. Those speaking for both sides, for the plaza and against it, are in form calling for better than a “comment period.” We are all calling for participation, which means the establishment of regular channels of discussion, planning, and decision.

The major empirical reasons for opposing the plaza are the following. The plaza’s construction period will mark the death knell of a number of important and desirable businesses in the area, whose margin of operation will not withstand the disruption. While the plan will move around a few parking spaces, it will neither beautify nor provide new greenery; it will replace concrete with more concrete. There is already a beautiful park, one block north. To beautify the “plaza” area would mean approaching what now exists like a canvas on which to paint, with an aesthetic in hand, and not a jackhammer. Blocking off the Shattuck service road that services the Vine-to-Rose businesses will not correct the major traffic problem in the area, which is on Rose Street itself, where west-bound traffic turns left into Long’s parking lot. In fact, it will make it worse because it will increase the traffic through that parking lot. To dig up concrete in order to lay down more concrete in a different configuration will constitute neither progress, nor beautification, nor a positive change.

The political reasons for opposing this plaza are more important. We live in a moment when some serious and far-reaching changes are being proposed at the corporate and government administrative levels, as well as those of this city. The modus operandi of such projects has too often been to present them as accomplished fact to those people who will be effected by them on a daily level. Those levels of political administration, including those of this city, are getting more and more distant from us as citizens. I need but mention the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), and the Bay Area Council (a business association), both having the ability and the power to make decisions without consulting the people effected by those decisions. This marks the growth of an anti-democratic tendency in our forms of governance. In response, similar neighborhood associations to that of the North Shattuck area have come into existence around the city, and around similar issues.

When neighborhood associations emerge, seeking to have a say in what happens, in the face of such administrative apparatuses, they appear as protests. This is itself an injustice. The channels for discussion, planning, and decision making by those to be effected by those decisions should already be in place. The proposed North Shattuck plaza, as an issue around which there is already an aroused citizenry, is a perfect place to start figuring out how to structure just such citizen participation. Rather than simply modify the proposal in accord with an amorphous “comment period,” the city should strike the proposal from its plans altogether, and begin a process of developing such channels in the North Shattuck neighborhood, as a pilot project for the rest of the city.

The Daily Planet had a headline article regarding concrete cracking at the skate park. Mixed in with this was my name, as well as eight-year-old comments about environmental issues from someone on the Disability Commission. There is no connection here.

Concrete cracking is the result of poor construction or poor design. All of the design/engineering/environmental work on the skate park was done by people selected by Friends of the Berkeley Skate Park in conjunction with the City of Berkeley Parks Department. The Parks Department used the non-profit I chair, the Association of Sports Field Users (ASFU), as a conduit for funds to pay some of these groups- most notably Mike McIntyre of Site Design who was told to design a skate park that could be built for $225,000.

The design that emerged was brave new world revolutionary and resulted in a skate park that was ranked as the best outdoor skate park in Northern California when it was completed. From a design perspective (ignoring the fact that the park designed was way over what was budgeted), Friends of a Berkeley Skate Park and the City of Berkeley Parks Department did an excellent job.

As for the construction, contractors managed by ASFU did the site demolition and the initial earthwork shaping the bowls. However this work was stopped when chromium 6 was discovered in the water being pumped from underneath the deepest bowl. ASFU pulled off the job, the skate park was redesigned without any ASFU involvement and the city took on the role of construction manager. There is no connection between the concrete cracking and anything ASFU or I had to do with the project.

Next up are the environmental issues that, as the City of Berkeley’s chief environmental officer states, “The cracking has nothing to do with the (environmental issues of) ground water.”

Environmental concerns were one of the central political issues in the development of Harrison Park. The issues were both broad- we shouldn’t be building a park in an industrial neighborhood- and detailed- long-term air quality site studies should be done.

Without going into a detailed rehashing of all the issues several points should be made. The University of California (which owned the land) and the City of Berkeley did extensive environmental work on the site, including groundwater, air and soils testing. All of this environmental work was reviewed by the City of Berkeley’s environmental office and it was determined that the site was suitable for use as a public park.

At the time Harrison Park was being contemplated, there were two playing fields as well as 700 units of UC housing for families, many with small children, right next to the site. In ten years of experience the athletic community had more problems with asthma attacks, a proxy for air quality, at King Field due to the dust of the cinder track than at the playing fields adjacent to Harrison. UC considered the air quality a non-issue.

LA Wood and others took the position that the air quality at Harrison was not ideal. The field user and skater community accepted this but took the position that there was no perfect site and that having the skate park and the playing fields was far better than not having them. This would still be the sentiment today.

Finally we have the “Ah ha, we told you so!” chromium 6 that delayed the construction of the skate park. Prior to construction it was understood that the 9’ deep bowl desired by the skaters would get very close to the underground water table, particularly during the winter months when the tides were up. The solution to this problem was a deep vault where two pumps would be located to pump out the ground water to prevent it from entering the bowl.

During construction the pumps were operating and it was not uncommon to come to the site and see a hose trickle of water going into the storm sewer. The City of Berkeley was having this water tested on a regular basis. About the time the earthen bowls for the skate park were being finished, chromium 6 was detected in the water, meaning it could no longer be put into the storm sewer.

This discovery called a halt to the job because if the chromium 6-tainted water couldn’t be put in the storm sewer, it would have to be put into tanker trucks and hauled away at a cost that was prohibitive. It was theorized that the source of the chromium 6 was a site about a block away from the skate park and that the pumping of the water drew a plume of the chemical from the site.

The City of Berkeley was aware of and monitoring the site but in reviewing the designs for the skate park, made no connection between the fact that the design called for continued pumping of the groundwater and that this continued pumping might result in contamination. But even with what happened, it’s important to remember that this mildly contaminated water was being taken away from underneath the construction site. It was not in drinking water and public exposure was virtually non-existent.

After the park was redesigned in the winter months, there would be minute traces of the chemical in the seams of the concrete and the City of Berkeley took the extraordinarily conservative approach to close the skate park to prevent any possibility of human contact. After a couple of years, this problem went away and the skate park is now open 12 months a year.

Harrison Park with its playing fields, community meeting building and skate park continues to be one of the busiest parks in the entire Bay area and I have absolutely no regrets about being involved in its development. It’s a great city asset.

Doug Fielding is chairperson of the Association of Sports Field Users.

The city is considering placing a bond measure on the ballot to rebuild our public pools. Pools built nearly half a century ago, in cooperation between the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) and the city, have reached their life expectancy. Crumbling infrastructure makes these pools increasingly expensive to maintain and keep viable financially and operationally. As a result, two of the three outdoor neighborhood public pools in Berkeley are closed most of the year, with West Campus pool closed even on summer weekends. Only King pool serves its North Berkeley neighborhood year around. Additionally, the city’s Warm Water Pool, housed in Berkeley Highs Old Gym, must be relocated and rebuilt. Now is the time to look at alternative scenarios. Now is the time to explore facilities that can support existing programs and act as a springboard to launch new, exciting, aquatic programs.

The city is considering a $30 million dollar price tag to rebuild what we have. However, what we have are pools and an aquatic program that reaches comparatively few, with diminishing utilization over the past years. The BUSD, forced to focus on No Child Left Behind and its own budget woes, has elected to align funding with academics, resulting in insufficient funding to maintain and operate the pools for school-based swim programs. What we have now is a system of pools that are owned by the schools and run by the city, that are inefficient, and require large financial subsidies for operation and for programming.

Our pools don’t serve families with young children very well. Many children from minority families, and economically disadvantaged families, are not learning to swim. There are few and limited family swim slots and there are few programs specifically designed for teenagers. In addition, the pools are designed to old safety standards and do not accommodate deep-water activities or competitive swimming. Finally, the old engineering, lack of enclosure, and Berkeley winters, cause these facilities to be high-energy consumers and unattractive to all but the most hardy residents during the colder months. At this historical moment, we should consider the future and we should consider the needs, not only of current pool users, but all those constituents that are not currently being served by existing aquatic facilities.

A number of us have engaged and considered these issues, weighing the pros and cons of several pool options. Using the best information available we feel that a new, multi-use, aquatic complex can be built for the same or less money than is currently being proposed for rehabilitating and replacing existing facilities. Such a complex would include a new indoor, warm water, therapeutic pool. Other elements of the complex would allow for recreation, amusement, and competition. Such a complex could potentially provide a community center for families, seniors, youth and the disabled that includes meeting rooms that can also used for birthday parties and city camps, a food concession, and opportunities for unique activities of interest to the community.

We have seen what other cities have done both in the Bay Area and afar. For example, the Silliman Aquatic Center in Newark is enormously popular with its residents. They maintain long hours, provide joyful youth recreation, such as a tot water park and slides, have a very low subsidy per swim, and are helping teach all the children and adults of Newark to swim. We have also learned that Carson Valley Swim Center in Nevada has the best warm water therapy program of any public pool in the West, as well as many aquatic exercise programs. They also provide opportunities for competitive swimming, scuba, water polo, recreational swimming and diving.

Our goal has been to develop a sustainable long-term pool solution for all of Berkeley’s residents, a vision of aquatics that serves the most citizens with cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency. With the need to address the crumbling infrastructure of existing facilities, now is the time to begin developing a new aquatics infrastructure and program that will serve all of Berkeley well into the future with a world-class facility.

Remember Joseph Heller’s Catch 22? “All the enlisted men and officers on combat duty had to sign a loyalty oath to get their maps from the intelligence tent, a second loyalty oath to receive their parachutes from the parachute tent, a third loyalty oath, etc.…Every time they turned around there was another loyalty oath to be signed…To anyone who questioned the effectiveness of loyalty oaths, [Captain Black] replied that people who were loyal would not mind signing all the loyalty oaths they had to. To anyone who questioned the effectiveness of the loyalty oaths, he said people who really owed allegiance to their country would be proud to pledge it as often as required.…The more loyalty oaths a person signed, the more loyal he was.”

Now consider the following e-mail sent by an El Cerrito staffer to 30 Contra Costa and Alameda city clerks at 8:15 a.m., Tuesday March 4:

“Good Morning: The Oath of Office has never been administered to commissioners in El Cerrito. At my previous job I must’ve sworn in 800 commissioners over the years without any issues. Would each of you kindly inform me as to whether the Oath of Office is administered to commissioners in your City?”

There were 20 responses: Walnut Creek “Absolutely—all are sworn in, in fact tonight I’m doing it to our newbie’s….” Livermore, “’…they bring their family along for photo-ops.” San Leandro, “…if they put up any kind of resistance or ask why bother, point out that State Law requires it.” Newark and Concord responded that only Planning Commissioners were sworn in. In Berkeley all 350 commissioners sign.

El Cerrito History: The Loyalty Oath first emerged as an issue at our May 2007 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting when (from the minutes) “Commissioner Rosemary Loubal questioned the need for an Oath and requested further discussion…Chair Greg Lyman reported not finding any documents in the Commissioner’s handbook…and will put the item on the next agenda for further discussion.” The minutes didn’t report that none of the commissioners signed. I was aghast at such a bald evasion of council responsibility, sending a staffer to enforce a very serious matter, without discussion, explanation or council mandate

There was no follow up until March 2008, when the oath, with no accompanying explanation, was scheduled as a “ceremonial item” for the next Parks and Rec meeting. By sugar coating the term as a “ceremonial item” council and staff probably thought they could slip the oath to commissioners without uncomfortable discussion or acknowledgment of endorsement.

At the next council meeting, I told the Ccouncil it was abdicating its responsibility to citizens by leaving such important matters to non-elected staff. I requested that the council agendize and discuss this issue first. I asked “why, if you favor oaths, you don’t simply vote for mandatory loyalty oaths?” Why hide behind a staffer? I also offered to tell the council what I found out about the issue from ACLU and a local Law School dean—if my three minutes were extended. Instead, the council only asked for the city attorney’s opinion. He read part of the state law, which seemed to require all commissioners to take the oath. “So it’s the state’s decision,” said the mayor.

Actually, the code shows that only decision making bodies must take the oath, but advisory ones do not. It is up to the council, not the attorney, to extend the oath to all commissions.

Since then, at its most recent meeting, while I was abroad, four of seven Parks and Rec commissioners signed the oath, and asked the council to set a policy on what would happen to those who decline to sign. In the meanwhile, El Cerrito started to routinely include the oath in forms that must be filled out by all new board, commission and committee applicants.

There were e-mails between city staffers on this issue: “I have not had to swear anyone in before. I don’t even know what to have them say.” Response: “You just ask them to raise their right hand and repeat after you. The oath has a natural rhythm for pauses. Practice on me if you’d like.”

I again, at the April 21 council meeting, requested that the oath issue be agendized, so it is council members rather than staff who will decide whether all, or just bodies with some judicial power (like Planning Commissioners) must sign.

I asked many people “Why do you think the El Cerrito City Council won’t agendize and vote for loyalty oaths for all volunteers?” Folks reply that El Cerrito is supposedly a liberal town, council members fear that voters wouldn’t like council members to vote for loyalty oaths. So they hide behind staff, as if it wasn’t up to them to determine policy.

An easy “way out” would have been for the council to claim that it doesn’t wish to set up a two-tier system of “advisory” vs. “decision-making” commissions. However, its earlier singling out of Parks and Rec for oath enforcement suggests that the whole issue may not be “just a formality.”

The Parks and Recreation Commission while supportive of El Cerrito recreational policies and expenditures, did occasionally follow my suggestions as Parks and Rec commissioner and criticized deficiencies in park plans and maintenance. The “paper trail” may show that rather than a routine bureaucratic catch-up, the loyalty oath could be a means to “bring to heel” vocal dissidents seen as lacking team spirit.

The City Council will have to decide whether it wants to open up the issue for serious discussion. This may bring out folks who see the loyalty oaths as an attempt at “coercive harmony”—in line with UCB Professor Laura Nader’s definition.

“What’s going on in El Cerrito? Is it under attack?” was a typical comment from a prominent California Judge. And the answer is, “Yes, it is certainly acts like it is, but not by Al Qaeda. The real enemy is citizen apathy!”

Rosemary Loubal signed the loyalty oath many years ago to become a naturalized citizen.

City officials are considering a panoply of new tax measures for the November 2008 ballot. The measures under discussion include the following projects, either separately or bundled in some fashion: public safety-police; public safety-fire; public safety-youth violence prevention; watershed management; warm water pool; (the forgoing are referred to herein as “the city measures”); and a very big general parks and recreation measure, including all pools, several playing fields, a new skate park, and more. Additionally, the library and BUSD are each very interested in substantial capital improvement measures ($25 million for the library), but appear to have made a deal to hold off until the city gets a first crack at the voters this coming November. Note that there will also likely be some regional and state revenue measures, as well as some potential changes (to extract more dollars) in the way that the State of California taxes property owners.

The city measures alone (excluding library, BUSD, and the bundled parks and recreation measure), taken together, would add at least $360 to the average homeowners annual property tax bill (average is defined as 1,900 square feet and assessed value of $330,500) and substantially more for the many newer homeowners with higher assessed values. At this time, no final decisions have been made as to the final scope and shape of the measures for the November ballot.

In 2004, the numerous tax measures on the city wish list fell far short of the required votes. The Real Property Transfer Tax for Youth Services, Library Tax Increase, and Paramedic Tax Increase each required a two-thirds majority, but received, respectively, 54.3 percent, 51 percent, and 45.4 percent. The Utility Users Tax Increase required 50 percent plus 1 vote, but received only 37.4 percent. Note that the UUT is the only tax burden that would have been shouldered by the entire Berkeley population, not just property owners, and it failed the most miserably! So, this time around, city officials are shunning any measure that would ask students and renters to help shoulder the burden of increasing local government, and these officials are clearly counting on increased voter turnout of non-property-owners, lured by the national election, to vote in higher local homeowner taxes.

Following are some considerations for Berkeley residents with respect to new Berkeley taxes.

• There undoubtedly is a limitless menu of worthy services that could be provided by the city, the library, and BUSD. Are they all necessary, affordable, and properly prioritized? Has the city properly spent its $300 million in total annual revenue? Has BUSD done likewise with its $113 million budget? Are there other ways to generate revenue that have not been properly explored or implemented? Should the approximately 45 percent or so of Berkeley property-owning households be asked to exclusively pay, in addition to the general taxes and fees imposed on all residents, almost 40 percent of the entire city General Fund?

• In this time of collapsing real estate and asset values (including homeowner retirement assets), skyrocketing health care costs, employment insecurity, and municipal near-bankruptcies, is it appropriate or wise to further burden Berkeley homeowners? What is the “ability to pay” of the average Berkeley homeowning household, whose average income is approximately $100,000?

• The City of Berkeley’s revenues have risen exponentially since 2000 due to the exploding real estate market that produced vastly increased assessments and transfer tax revenue, and to utility tax revenue increases due to rising PG&E and utility bills. Without any new real property taxation, local real property revenues will continue to increase by millions of dollars annually due to built-in inflators to the ad valorem and special local taxes.

• The city has not prepared a proper and complete analysis of the local tax burden relative to other cities, as requested by various citizen groups. Although figures were given for Oakland and Albany indicating near parity with respect to real property based taxes, these figures are actually quite misleading. Generally, Berkeley uses (and should use) a 10-city comparison, which would add the cities of Alameda, El Cerrito, Fremont, Hayward, Mountain View, San Leandro, and Vallejo to the chart. Further, Berkeley imposes many unique local taxes and fees that add substantially to the local tax burden and should properly be part of a true comparison chart. These include the real property transfer tax of 1.5 percent, Berkeley sales tax, Berkeley utility users tax (on all utilities, and quite a city windfall given steeply rising utility prices), a hefty sewer service fee (billed for City by EBMUD), and refuse collection and disposal fees (now set to be raised, but probably will be delayed until after the November election!). Many Berkeley citizens who follow city tax and budget issues are convinced that the local tax burden, taken as a whole, is among the highest, if not the highest, in the state. This was shown to be true in 2004 and there is no reason to believe that much has changed.

Another important area for analysis would be the Berkeley homeowners “ability to pay.” The median annual household income in Berkeley is about $44,500 and the median annual household income for Berkeley homeowners is about $100,000. Compare this to Marin County where the median household income is well over $200,000. In interesting analysis would be to compare, for high-taxing jurisdictions, the local tax burden with local income, the idea being that there should be a reasonable correspondence between the two.

Remember that California has a steeply progressive state income tax, so higher-income Berkeleyans do get to pay a fair share, and a goodly portion of this state money does come back to the city and BUSD.

Residents are entitled to a “taxpayer impact report” that would cover these matters, as well as the long term detriments of and the alternatives to more local taxation. Too, our City Council should be privy to and mindful of such information before deciding on ballot measures, rather than focusing on voter opinion surveys that are often designed to mislead respondents and elicit preordained positive responses. Four years ago we had a Citizens Budget Review Commission that made some sensible recommendations to Council on budget and tax matters. This commission is the only one of the 45 city commissions to ever be disbanded!

For the last few years, even before the recent drastic downturn in the economy, City Manager Phil Kamlarz was strongly advocating for 0 percent compensation increases to city employees through 2010. Nevertheless, the city recently entered into city labor contracts providing approximately 15 percent increases over the next three to four years. Be assured that city employees are very fairly compensated, have good working conditions and total job security, and are blessed with a guaranteed retirement income and generous lifetime city subsidy for health insurance.

Property taxation is disproportionately weighted toward homeowner as compared to commercial and industrial property owners. This is due to the ability of commercial/industrial property transfers to occur sub rosa and without a reassessment, by means of intercorporate maneuvers. A ballot measure to simply change the commercial/industrial tax rate for existing taxes could raise substantial dollars without hurting homeowners.

Following are but a few examples out of many of poor city spending decisions, missed revenue opportunities, and bad community relations:

• The expensive new city labor contracts.

• $30M subsidy plus lost economic development opportunity in connection with the Downtown Oxford/Brower Center. This prime piece of city-owned land, valued at about $8M and perfect for retail/commercial development, was sold for $1 to the developer.

• Failure to implement a workable condominium conversion scheme that would bring in millions of dollars in new real estate tax revenues and create housing ownership opportunities at a relatively affordable level.

• Failure to achieve any viable economic development that would bring in millions of dollars in new sales tax revenues and generate vitality in our commercial areas. Sales tax revenues have fallen precipitously, and this decline started well before the current economic downturn.

• Failure to properly manage sensitive policy decisions, such as the Marine Recruitment Center and the homeless outreach initiative, to minimize wasteful spending and the damage to the city’s reputation and economic development potential.

• Construction of a failing and contaminated $800,000 skate park only six years ago, failure to timely pursue litigation against the property sellers and contractors, and the chutzpah to discuss a $2.2 million rebuild before litigation is completed.

• Collusion with BUSD in its plans to demolish the existing Nationally-Landmarked and adaptively-reusable gym/warm water pool building in connection with a $45M scheme for all brand new facilities, to be paid for by local taxpayers. Many residents and design professionals are convinced that this National Landmark structure can and should be saved, renovated, and accommodated to most BUSD facility needs, and that this can be accomplished at far less than $45 million and paid for with outside funds available to National Landmarks along with the $3.2 million warm water bond measure already approved by Berkeley voters in 2000.

Our city officials and all Berkeley residents, whether or not they pay real property taxes and whether or not they stand to directly benefit from the various tax measures, need to have and consider all of the facts and ramifications of increased local taxation at this difficult time.

Barbara Gilbert is active in several Berkeley civic organizations and closely follows local government.

In the printed edition of “Fight Against Moth Spray Gains Boots on the Ground” by Judith Scherr on April 8, the event our collective organized for Thursday, April 10, from 7-9 p.m. at the Berkeley Ecology Center was mistakenly credited to Pesticide Action Network (PAN). We are not affiliated with them, nor do we wish to be confused with them, because our organizations have very different approaches to anti-pesticide action. We advocate no compromise about chemical substances that harm human and environmental health, while they refuse to take a complete no toxics stand.

Their position on the light brown apple moth(LBAM) is that they are opposed to aerial spraying, but are encouraging the use of other toxic pesticides, such as synthetic “pheromone” twist ties and ground applications of bacillus thuringiensis, the latter of which has made hundreds of people in New Zealand ill.

Their usual work is largely focused on crafting and lobbying for legislation such as the Healthy Schools Act, which specifically leaves the door wide open for the continued pesticide use which we see with most school districts in the state. They say kids are safer. We say kids are further endangered because their parents have been led to believe that significant change has occurred, when in most cases it has not, and therefore they are pacified into taking neither precautions, nor actions to make real change.

While well-established nonprofits like PAN get donations from people assuming their money contributes to anti-pesticide action, in fact, PAN, like most funded pesticide-related nonprofits, specifically sticks to a “reduce use” line, which has absolutely no clear legal consequence, and is probably why they are welcomed by many politicians. The same is true for the Sierra Club and National Resource Defense Council, both of which oppose only the aerial component of the LBAM pesticide program, but even that they are ready to support under certain conditions.

In fact, after the passage of the Healthy Schools Act, at a meeting at the Alameda County Agricultural offices in Hayward, one of our members witnessed the facilitating Ag. representative chuckling that this bill had next to no demands and that no one was being held responsible at all. “Certainly not us,” he laughed. “No one seems to be responsible.” Not one of the pesticide applicators or school representatives present at the meeting expressed any interest in getting off their toxic treadmills, and a representative of one of the local schools admonished others there to avoid allowing parents onto any safety committees, referring to concerned parents as a hassle. All they wanted to know was how to continue using pesticides as usual without getting sued.

Is this the sort of legislation you want passed in response to the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Light brown apple moth pesticide program?

In order to distinguish between Pesticide Action Network and us, East Bay Pesticide Alert, known as Don’t Spray California on statewide issues, please do some research on our website at EastBayPesticideAlert.org, where you’ll find information about rampant pesticide use throughout the Bay Area where you least expect it, truly non-toxic alternatives, and how to protect yourself and your community.

Barack Obama’s political faux pas at the Marin county fundraiser is certainly something he could have done without, especially in light of the fact that his poll numbers were beginning to look good in Pennsylvania against his opponent. We don’t know if he was being candid or he merely misspoke. But whatever his intention was, this is exactly the sort of ammunition you don’t want to provide your opponents in this age of information where news propagates like wildfire click by click. Even though if you read his statement in full and not out of context, the last sentence of that statement doesn’t sound as bad as his opponents may like the voters to realize. But for McCain and Hillary to call him elitist is not only laughable but just plain disingenuous.

I was quite appalled when Hillary said that Obama was out of touch, and he didn’t connect with the average folks in small town U.S.A. But when she further tried to identify herself with the plight of the common worker with this unabashed statement, “That has not been my experience,” I nearly fell out of my chair. This is from a candidate whose household has made $109 million since leaving the White House, and this is from someone who has not seen a day of poverty in her life, or hobnobbed with working class folks except for campaign appearances and photo ops? This is the sort of unsavory politics which renders me gastro intestinally ill at ease. But I wonder if the voters will see through this charade considering the substandard media that is fed to them incessantly.

I know McCain’s campaign has been trying to find any chink in Obama’s armor because they already expect him to be the opponent, but they would rather take it up against Hillary who is probably more beatable in the general election. Naturally, they have joined the choir here, and are now expressing their phony outrage over his statement along with the Republican Party who smells some blood. But McCain is no commoner either; born in a family of admirals (both his father and grandfather) he didn’t see much of the common man’s diurnal dilemma. But he became even wealthier after his marriage to Cindy Hensley McCain, whose family has fortunes from Hensley & Co. , the exclusive distributor of Anheuser-Busch beer in Arizona. Hensley & Co. is the nation’s fifth largest beer distributor.

I wonder if the voters of Pennsylvania and the remaining primary voters will find out about the hypocrisy of the two candidates, and about their fortunes, and their elite social statuses. The pots are calling the kettle black, but Obama doesn’t even qualify as kettle in terms of wealth and background.

Beware: The United States Department of Agriculture plans to drop bombs of pesticides over the Bay Area this summer. We can thank a former UC Berkeley professor for that.

After all, he discovered the culprit, the light brown apple moth (LBAM), in his back yard last March. Since then, LBAM (a native to Australia) has been reported in 11 counties throughout California. The damage of LBAM is unknown, but according to the USDA, the moth is a detriment to California’s agriculture and the nation’s economy.

We can thank industrial agriculture for that. Agribusinesses are heavily dependent on monocropping, the mass production of one single crop, which is risky when vulnerable to pests and dependent on pesticides.

We can thank globalization for that. Free trade has opened our doors to the constant exchange of cheap goods. Not to mention drugs, pollution, human rights violations, the list goes on. And all of that can be summed up in the criminal charges brought to Chiquita Banana, the U.S.-based corporation that imports our favorite yellow fruit from Central American plantations. Mix that with climate change and there’s no doubt that invasive species are frequenting this golden state.

All of this hype is about making the big buck, not the little pest. Decades ago, the United States added the light brown apple moth to NAFTA’s list of quarantine pests, meaning there would be zero tolerance for any good detected LBAM. According to agroecologist and UC Berkeley professor, Miguel Altieri, the U.S. did so in order to exclude foreign competitors. Now that the U.S. faces exclusion, the moth is a big deal.

Lucky for Stewart Resnick, the owner of the multi-billion dollar agri-corporation, Roll International, which controls Paramount Farms, the world’s largest producers of almonds, pistachios and citrus fruits. Resnick and his company will supply and make record profit from the chemicals intended for aerial spray.

Have we forgotten that pests like LBAM have always existed? Feeding on leaves of trees and plants, nectar and pollen of flowers, the light brown apple moth is nothing new of nature.

Organic farmers who’ve witnessed LBAM in action can attest to this. Rob Schultz, vineyard manager and farmer of Napa’s Oakville Ranch said that he sees the moth on a daily basis and it’s no big shock. They’re part of the natural process, Schultz said.

The problem is that we are being deceived to believe that LBAM is a huge threat, and that aerial spraying will alleviate the problem. In reality, spraying will only cause more problems. Over four hundred health reports were cited in Santa Cruz and Monterey County, where spraying began last year. There’s a huge cost to spraying, and we will pay for it not only with our wallets.

Mayor and registered nurse Robert Lieber of Albany calls the government’s spraying “weapons of mass destruction.” Altieri confirmed those sentiments when he stated that the government’s current plan to eradicate LBAM is like the “9-11 terrorist policy applied to agriculture.”

Don’t be fooled by the “greenwashing” of the term “organic,” which the California Department of Food and Agriculture calls CheckMate-F, the pesticide that will be sprayed as part of the government’s LBAM eradication plan. There’s nothing organic about chemicals.

There are better alternatives. First, we need to pass AB 2892, Assembly member Sandré Swanson’s bill that protects public rights by mandating spraying be done with consent of affected peoples, not that of big businesses who profit off the selling of pesticides and pesticide-sprayed foods, which accumulate for most of the human diet.

Instead of spending millions on another pesticide that will profit another multi-million dollar corporation, we should follow in the footsteps of Aussies who have kept the minor pest in control for more than 100 years through integrative pest management. Such alternatives incorporate research, traps and using natural predators like the non-stinging wasp. Maintaining diversity throughout plants and species in our environment will provide healthy soils and predators that naturally manage LBAM.

Research should also address why the moth is on the quarantine list. Solutions shouldn’t follow the one-solution-fits-all method of big businesses and instead adopt a system of biological farming (natural farming) that reduces farmers’ dependence on pesticides and the threat of future pests.

If there’s one thing to thank the emeritus professor of entomology, Dr. Jerry Powell, who made the public discovery of LBAM, it’s for opening the door to discussing the connections between our government and globalization, and how the two are the real pests to our agriculture.

Connie Chung is a Peace and Conflict Studies and Public Policy student at UC Berkeley.

In 1903, Wisconsin’s “Fighting” Bob La Follette organized the first primaries in the U.S. La Follette hated boss-controlled conventions. The aim of the primaries, he once said, is to remove the nomination from the hands of professionals.

There were no superdelegates prior to the 1980s, when Walter Mondale, one of the early architects of the superdelegate system, repudiated La Follette’s democratic philosophy.

With the explicit aim of preventing voter insurgencies, Mondale helped to create a block of unelected kingmakers drawn from the Washington establishment. Mondale was quite frank about his aims. In an editorial subtitled “Party Leaders, Not Voters, Should Do the Nominating,” Mondale wrote (New York Times, February 26, 1992):

“The election is the business of the people. But the nomination is more properly the business of the Parties....The problem lies in the reforms that were supposed to open the nominating process. Party leaders have lost the power to screen candidates and select a nominee. The solution is to reduce the influence of the primaries and boost the influence of the party leaders....The superdelegate category established within the Democratic Party after 1984 allows some opportunity for this, but should be strengthened.”

Should superdelegates overrule the majority will of the voters? That is the question that confronts the Democratic Party today.

Independent Judgment

Recently Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi said that superdelegates should respect the voters’ choice. In contrast, Senator Clinton argued that superdelegates should exercise “independent judgment.”

What does Clinton mean by “independent judgment”? Consider, for a moment, judicial standards for determining an individual’s capacity for objectivity. Any prospective juror who has any dealings with a plaintiff or defendant is automatically disqualified from jury duty. A person who makes financial contributions to a judge in the midst of a trial commits a felony.

The exchange of votes and favors is ongoing in politics. Over the years, like Senator Obama, Senator Clinton contributed thousands of dollars to members of the House and Senate, who are now superdelegates. Some delegates are close friends of the candidates. Clinton has organized dozens of lavish fund-raising parties for her allies in Washington, D.C. As her biographer, Sally Bedell Smith, wrote: “Hillary’s efforts...earned the gratitude of countless influential Democrats who could help with her political ambitions.”

To be sure, many Democrats commend Hillary Clinton for her fund-raising, her indefatigable work in Washington. No one claims she is lazy. But to portray superdelegate beneficiaries as “independent” judges in the nominating process strains our credulity. Few politicians have the moral courage to be called a “Judas” in public.

Superdelegates, in short, rarely exercise genuine independent judgment in the selection of a presidential nominee. What, after all, makes Washington incumbents wiser than the voters themselves?

Ethical Issues around Superdelegates

Finally, there are ethical issues regarding the Clinton position on superdelgate power. At every rally, at every major event, she appeals to voters as if their votes will become the deciding factor in the nomination. She does not tell them that superdelegates are—in her opinion—wiser than the cooks, taxi drivers, lawyers, technicians, nurses, and humble Americans to whom she appeals. Is it really ethical to appeal to Americans to vote, while making appeals behind the scenes to superdelegates to nullify those voters if they choose your opponent?

To be sure, Senator Clinton certainly has a right to take Mondale’s elitist position on the role of superdelegates in the nominating process. Fine. But doesn’t she have an obligation to inform voters that their debates, their activism, their hopes and idealism—their participation in the primaries—may all be in vain? Why not just cancel the primaries, let superdelegates pick the nominee, and spare us the humiliation of yet another election overturned?

Superdelegates chose Mondale in 1984, and Mondale was trounced. They chose a tank-riding Dukakis in 1988, and he too lost the election.

A democratic nomination, based on the principles of Bob La Follette, is a precondition to victory in November.

Paul Rockwell is a writer in Oakland.

Columns

In the six weeks between the Mississippi and Pennsylvania primaries, the campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination deteriorated into trench warfare. When the dust cleared, Hillary Clinton won a nine-point victory in Pennsylvania, one that moved her no closer to securing the nomination. And the struggle between Clinton and Obama left a trail of bitterness.

A recent Pennsylvania Quinnipiac poll found that 25 percent of likely Clinton voters said, “they will vote for Republican Sen. John McCain in November if Obama is the Democratic candidate.” This mirrors an earlier national Gallup poll that found 28 percent of Clinton voters avowed to support McCain. Given that Clinton and Obama have virtually identical positions on most issues, why would a supporter of liberal Clinton switch to conservative McCain—a reprise of George Bush?

Some of this shift is attributable to racism—voters who don’t want to see a black man as president, but a substantial component may due to the angry feelings of female Clinton backers. When I talked with women who supported Clinton, I found their complaints fell into three categories:

Hillary Clinton has been subjected to

gender bias.

All the women felt the press has been prejudiced against Sen. Clinton because she is an assertive female. They believed Senator Obama has garnered uncritical acceptance—at least until he made his infamous “bitter” comments. They noted the apparent glee with which the press—particularly MSNBC commentator Chris Matthews—greeted news of Clinton’s eminent demise in the New Hampshire primary. The consensus was that the male members of the press don’t like Hillary and root for her to fail.

In a January New York Times Op-Ed Gloria Steinem noted “Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life.” The women I interviewed shared this sentiment and noted that while it would be groundbreaking for a black man to be president, it would be even more momentous for a woman to enter the oval office. They also observed that women are more likely than men to vote—in 2004, 54 percent of all voters were women and the percentage is expected to go up—while African-Americans are approximately 11 percent of the electorate.

My contacts described Hillary Clinton as smart, experienced, and hardworking. They believed that if she were a man she would have already secured the nomination, but because of gender bias, she will now likely lose it. They noted that while Clinton is an effective speaker and has unusual command of the facts—and Obama can be a halting speaker with a distant, professorial tone—the press often describes her as shrill and condescending, while they reserve none of these descriptors for Obama. (Indeed, research on gender bias indicates successful female managers are often characterized as “more deceitful, pushy, selfish, and abrasive” than their male counterparts.)

The nomination rules are prejudiced.

Several women opined the rules for the Democratic primaries are unfair and, therefore, have disadvantaged Sen. Clinton. They said the rules allocating delegates for the states are so complicated few understand them and that’s why Clinton won the popular vote in the Texas primary but Obama received more delegates. They observed that Clinton usually won primaries while Obama generally won caucuses because the caucus process is arcane. All were outraged that the votes of Michigan and Florida voters were not counted; from their perspective, the male leaders of the Democratic Party disallowed these results because they favored Obama. They felt women and “women’s issues” have been marginalized in the Democratic Party and women rarely have power within the Party itself.

The women I interviewed noted that at the end of March, senior Democrats—all men—called for Sen. Clinton to withdraw. They felt that if it had been Sen. Obama who was behind, rather than Clinton, there would not have been this rush to prematurely end the competition.

There’s no likely female presidential

candidate in the wings.

The most common complaint was the most poignant: Women have waited 88 years for a female President and, if Sen. Clinton loses the competition for the 2008 presidential nomination, they may have to wait many more years. The women I interviewed observed that Hillary Clinton is by far the strongest female candidate to emerge in their lifetimes and they do not expect another comparable female contender to emerge in the near term.

In summary, the women I talked to are upset: they see Hillary Clinton as the best chance to have a female president in their lifetime; and the feel the Democratic leadership has disenfranchised them. Some of them are angry enough to consider voting for John McCain. They are bitter.

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net.

There was a time, many years ago, when I was embarrassed to admit that most of my clothes came either from second-hand stores or thrift shops.

This somehow seemed akin to being on relief or public welfare. But all that changed decades ago when I came across an article about Barbra Streisand (long before she hit the big time on Broadway). In this article she boasted proudly that she bought all her clothes in thrift shops on Manhattan’s Second Avenue. If I recall, she was even the inspiration for the song, “Second Hand Rose.”

Well, by gum, if thrift shops were good enough for Barbra, who was I to think it demeaning to select clothes at these great bargain emporiums? Thanks to Barb, I was suddenly liberated. I came out of the closet (in a manner of speaking), no longer in denial.

“Yes, yes,” I shouted to anyone who cared to listen, “everything I wear comes from thrift shops and I’m not ashamed to say so.”

Well, with passing time, I’m happy to say my financial situation has improved to a point where I can now actually afford to shop at popular department stores, such as Macy’s and Nordstroms. Guess what? I’ve discovered I don’t really like shopping in big, impersonal department stores, riffling through acres and acres of racks bulging with unattractive, over-priced garments. I find nothing imaginative or distinct like the clothes I find in thrift shops.

So now, after much dedicated research, I’ve become a self-proclaimed expert on East Bay Thrift Stores, Consignment Shops and, yes, even flea markets. I’m happy to share my updated Consumer’s Guide to such establishments with Daily Planet readers.

Let’s begin with the obvious names—Goodwill, Salvation Army and St. Vincent dePaul. These stores are to be found all over Berkeley, Oakland, El Cerrito and San Pablo. Lesser known are stores such as the Turnabout Shop in El Cerrito, sponsored by the Berkeley Auxiliary Clinic and Clausen House in Oakland’s Telegraph Avenue. (The latter store helps people with developmental disability find employment).

Then there are the American Cancer Society Discovery Shops and the Bambino Thrift Shop benefiting Children’s Hospital. When shopping at Trader Joe’s in the Rockridge district, you might walk over to Rockridge Rags, which is a bit more upscale than the other stores mentioned. This shop might even accept some of your own clothes on consignment if they’re in vogue and in good condition. And you wouldn’t be too far from the Alta Bates Showcase. In my own neighborhood, there’s the Cellar Thrift Shop in the basement of the First Congregational Church.

As discussed above, having been liberated by Barbra S.’s revelation that she haunted New York’s thrift shops, I can say from personal experience I’m absolutely hooked on these shops! There’s something thrilling about running across Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, even, on rare occasions, a Versace garment. This doesn’t happen often, but when it does—my heart leaps! This past week I found a stunning, royal blue silk pantsuit bearing the label, “Sail Away: From The Royal Princess Cruise Line.” It was priced at $5.99! Now I’ll have to look into Princess cruises.

As might be expected, there are those friends who can’t resist making catty remarks about my penchant for thrift shop clothing. One such friend recently commented on an L.L. Bean cotton blouse I was wearing, obviously waiting for me to confess that I had picked it up at Goodwill or some other thrift shop. Whereupon I breezily remarked that the blouse was shown in the L.L. Bean Catalog, inferring, that I actually bought it new. But, as luck would have it, said friend, helping me into my jacket, found a price tag still attached to the collar, reading $2.59. Ah, well—pride goeth before a fall.

So, having acted as a Guide to Local Thrift Shops, Consignment Stores and other bargain spots, let me repeat once again how exhilarating it is to find just what you’ve been looking for, something truly stunning and distinct, at astonishingly low prices. If your own wardrobe needs replenishing, just head for your nearest Thrift Shop and load up on new, (or should I say “gently used”) fashions?

If the junior United States senator from Illinois—Barack Obama—is seeking guidance from the life of Illinois’ most famous politician in his quest for the presidency, replicating Abraham Lincoln’s Civil War “knockout blow” is the wrong place to look. Instead, it is the Civil War’s “terrible math” that is a better guide for this particular moment.

These thoughts have been prompted—in case you were wondering—by the questions immediately following the Pennsylvania Democratic primary: first from the camp of Hillary Clinton, then echoed by many in the media, of why can’t Barack Obama deliver a “knockout blow” to get Ms. Clinton out of the race and sew up the Democratic Party presidential nomination?

A return to that question in a moment. But first, the Civil War.

During that bloody, four-year conflict, Mr. Lincoln became famous for his impatience with the reluctance of some Union commanders to take out the Confederate Army in one great stroke. When General George McClellan dawdled in Virginia, drilling the Army of the Potomac and calling for more material and reinforcements instead of launching an attack against the Army of Northern Virginia, Mr. Lincoln sent him a note asking that, if Mr. McClellan had no actual plans for using the army, could not the President borrow it for a few days to do some attacking on his own. When General George Meade failed to follow up on the great Gettysburg victory by pursuing General Robert E. Lee and breaking up the eastern Confederate army before it could retreat back across the Potomac into Virginia, Mr. Lincoln famously fretted and fumed that Mr. Meade had let Mr. Lee get away, prolonging the war. And finally, when the Confederate lines broke at Petersburg and the Army of Northern Virginia fled west, union cavalry forces under General Philip Sheridan in hot pursuit, Mr. Lincoln sent what is probably the most famous presidential command in history to Commanding General Ulysses Grant. “Gen. Sheridan says, ‘If the thing be pressed I think that Lee will surrender.’” Mr. Lincoln wrote. “Let the thing be pressed.”

But there was, actually, no “knockout blow” in the Civil War, not Gettysburg, nor the capture of Vicksburg or Atlanta, or even of Richmond itself. Instead, what probably won the war for the North was Mr. Lincoln’s selection of Mr. Grant as commander, and Mr. Grant’s belief in the “terrible math” of the war. The Union had more money, more firepower, and more manpower to draw on than did the Confederacy. If the Union commander was not afraid to trade that blood and treasure, even up, battle after battle, with Mr. Lee and the other Confederate generals, the Confederacy would eventually run out of all its resources, and would be bled dry. All that was needed was a Union commander with the steely nerves to play out that terrible hand.

Comparisons between war and political campaigns can be—and usually are—overblown. But if we acknowledge the fact that nothing—absolutely nothing—actually compares with the death and destruction of war, Mr. Obama currently finds himself in a position similar to Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Grant. If he has the steel and the nerve to play out his current hand, the electoral math works absolutely in his favor, and the Democratic nomination is his. He can only lose it if he makes a mistake, and one of those mistakes can be succumbing to the siren call that he is lacking, somehow, if he cannot take out Hillary Clinton with a “knockout blow.”

The question—why can’t Barack Obama deliver a knockout blow to the campaign of Hillary Clinton—is, in fact, a silly one, with an easy answer.

Six months ago, Hillary Clinton was the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2008 presidential race. She was a fierce and formidable politician in her own right as well as part of the most formidable husband-and-wife political team of our generation, a popular sitting United States senator of one of the most populous states of the union, with a powerful national campaign machine built up over more than a decade. Almost every national commentator believed that the Democratic nomination was hers to lose, but she did not lose it. Instead, she was passed on the run by an equally formidable politician, Barack Obama, whose politics and personality tapped into the prevailing mood of the country.

This is, perhaps, the most important point to remember in understanding why Mr. Obama cannot supply that “knockout blow.” Hillary Clinton did not run a bad campaign that forced her supporters to look for another candidate, such as, say, former Senator Fred Thompson did on the Republican side. Instead, Ms. Clinton’s problem was that Mr. Obama simply ran a better campaign. But Ms. Clinton retained a large and loyal core of supporters, and for the most part, nothing she has done in the campaign has shaken their faith in her. She was a formidable candidate in January. She remains a formidable candidate today. To ask why Barack Obama can’t immediately knock her out of the race is like asking why the old Boston Celtics teams of Larry Bird and Robert Parish couldn’t knock out the old Los Angeles Lakers teams of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar in fewer than seven games, or why those old Showtime Lakers teams couldn’t do the same to the Celtics. They couldn’t knock these teams out sooner, friends, because they were playing against good teams.

But there are other dynamics at work in this political season.

The goal of both Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton is not just to win the Democratic nomination, but to win in November over the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona. To do this, both Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton have the same challenge—they must defeat their Democratic rival in such a way that they maintain their own constituency while not alienating too much of their Democratic rival’s constituency. But while it is the same challenge, because of the differences in their political personalities, Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton have distinctly different paths to reach their goal.

Ms. Clinton is known as a combative, partisan politician whose campaign is built on the premise that she is tough enough to take on the Republicans as well as take on America’s enemies in the world. When she goes on the attack against Mr. Obama, she is entirely within character. Such attacks energize her supporters, and even supporters of Mr. Obama have to admit—sometimes grudgingly, and sometimes only to themselves—that Ms. Clinton is acting completely within character.

Mr. Obama’s campaign is built upon an entirely different premise. He comes to us as a healer, someone who promises to stop the old partisan bickering that has marked the Bush-Clinton-Bush years, to bridge the old gaps that have divided races and parties in this country. That is both his politics and his personality. When Mr. Obama goes on the attack against Ms. Clinton—something he would need to do to perform this “knockout blow”—it completely reverses the foundation of his campaign. For every voter he turned away from Ms. Clinton by such attacks, Mr. Obama would probably lose one of his own supporters who had been drawn to him by his promise to end “politics as usual.” Mr. Obama could win the Democratic nomination under those circumstances, but lose the enthusiasm that propelled him to those early primary wins, confusing his supporters and eventually leading the way to a possible defeat in the general election in the fall.

So what should Mr. Obama do?

Trust in the “terrible math” of the current state of the Democratic primary campaign. And his supporters should trust that “terrible math” with him.

I have not crunched the numbers myself, but I have faith in the prevailing opinion that Mr. Obama is far enough ahead in delegates committed during the primary and caucus process that Ms. Clinton must have an extraordinary run of victories to catch him by the end of the primary season. Because the Democratic Party operates on a proportional apportionment of delegates—not winner take all—I have seen some estimates that Ms. Clinton would have to win all of the upcoming primaries by a 65-35 margin to catch Mr. Obama. Ms. Clinton was not able to win by such a margin in states such as Pennsylvania that were largely favorable to her; there is no one who seriously believes that, absent some great mistake by Mr. Obama, she will be able to do so in Indiana, North Carolina, Oregon, and the other primaries yet to come.

That is the “terrible math” of the Democratic primary end game. If Mr. Obama runs out the string, even, with Ms. Clinton, he wins. He does not have to knock her out to win the Democratic nomination. It is she who has to knock him out for her to prevail.

But there is another reason why Mr. Obama should continue to play out the winning hand he has dealt himself, rather than risking everything for some “knockout blow.”

If Ms. Clinton is forced out of the Democratic race by anything other than the will of the Democratic primary voters, it will be a nasty, bloody withdrawal from which Mr. Obama will have difficulty recovering in time for the fall campaign. That is true whether Ms. Clinton goes out kicking and screaming, or goes out quietly and with dignity and a sad smile on her face, or goes out promising to support Mr. Obama. If Ms. Clinton’s supporters believe that she was forced out of the campaign, and did not get a fair shot, some number of them will either sit out the general election or go over to Mr. McCain or some third party candidate. And that number could be enough to cost Mr. Obama the presidency.

For Mr. Obama to win in the fall, Ms. Clinton’s supporters must feel that she had a fair chance to win in the spring and summer, and simply came up short. They are loyal supporters, and certainly would be disappointed. But they would be less likely to take that disappointment out on Mr. Obama, if it was widely believed that there was no coming together of Democratic Party elders to force Ms. Clinton out of the race.

So the answer for Mr. Obama in the waning days of the Democratic primary season: Don’t panic. Be himself. The math is with him. And if he is the national healer and the harbinger of a post-partisan politics that his supporters say he is, that is exactly what he will do.

The Westenberg House in it early years. The Claremont Hotel is visible in the distance.

Daniella Thompson

The massive front door.

Old Berkeley may have been solidly Republican, but it never lacked for colorful and even eccentric characters. How else to explain the flights of fancy some early Berkeleyans commissioned when building their homes a century ago?

One wouldn’t expect a Methodist minister to build an oversized storybook house, yet this is precisely what went up at 2811 Benvenue Ave. in 1903. The owner, Charles Albert Westenberg (1862-1927), was a self-contradictory man, adamantly opposed to card playing and dancing yet not at all scrupulous about profiting from the despoliation of nature or the ruination of his friends.

Westenberg was born in Pittsburgh, Penn., the son of a German agar maker. His brave mother gave birth to 14 children and outlived at least three of them, as well as her husband. While Charles was still a child, the family moved to Ohio, where he grew up and met his first wife, Louise Arndt, the daughter of Methodist physicians. Charles and Louise’s only child, Helen Lois, was born there in 1886.

Having been ordained as a Methodist Episcopal minister, Westenberg set out for southern California. In 1891 he was posted to San Diego County, serving at the First United Methodist Church in National City and at St. Paul’s Church of the Voyager in Coronado. Louise died that year, leaving him with the 5-year-old Helen.

From 1892 to ‘95, Westenberg was pastor of St. Paul’s Church in San Bernardino. At the Friday Morning Club of that city he met Miss Jessie DeWolfe (1856-1948), a Vermont-born schoolteacher of Dutch ancestry and a devoted Methodist. At the time, Miss DeWolfe was in charge of teaching the girls at the California State Reform School in Whittier. The couple was married in Los Angeles on Jan. 14, 1895 before moving to Santa Barbara, where Charles took over the pulpit at the First United Methodist Church and the chaplaincy of the Masonic Lodge. One of his accomplishments in Santa Barbara was the establishment of a “Fishermen’s Club,” a band of young men whose task it was to secure a list of all the tourists at the local hotels and boarding houses and to invite them to attend the church during their stay. In 1899, the Record of Christian Work commended Westenberg on this work, which helped counteract the evil of Sunday sightseeing.

Mrs. Westenberg wasn’t idle either. In 1897, she was secretary of the Woman’s Home Missionary Society of the California Conference of the ME Church (she would be elected president seven years later). On April 11, 1898, she gave birth to Margaret Bethany Westenberg and now had two girls to rear.

Charles Westenberg’s tour of duty in Santa Barbara came to an end in 1899. The family moved to San Francisco, where Charles became superintendent of the Boys’ and Girls’ Aid Society. In June 1900, he took his 60 wards on a six-week camping vacation in Cazadero. He still preached occasionally, but—as Jessie would tell Hal Johnson of the Berkeley Gazette four decades later—his voice gave out in 1901, forcing him to give up the ministry and go into business as a broker.

The impetus appears to have been a trip he made in 1900 to Palenque, Mexico, as a member of a committee sent to investigate the property of the Chiapas Rubber Plantation and Investment Company. The other committee members were Los Angeles Superior Court judge Lucien Shaw (later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California), Santa Barbara postmaster Orlando W. Maulsby, Reverend L.M. Hartley of Redlands, and Ernest Alexander Girvin, a California Supreme Court reporter and Berkeley resident.

Girvin, a close friend and future business ally of Westenberg’s, had attended Hastings College of the Law in 1881. He professed sanctification that year, joined the Trinity Methodist Church in San Francisco, and received a local preacher’s license. At the age of 27, he co-authored the book Pure English: A Treatise on Words and Phrases, or Practical Lessons in the Use of the Language (A.L. Bancroft & Co., 1884). In 1896, dissatisfied with the rigidity of the Methodist Church, he made the acquaintance of Dr. Phineas F. Bresee, who had just founded the evanglical Church of the Nazarene in Los Angeles. Early the following year, Girvin organized the First Church of the Nazarene in Berkeley and became its first pastor, fulfilling this role alongside his court work.

Returning from Mexico, the committee released a flattering report on the Chiapas plantation, as the San Francisco Call reported on Dec. 16, 1900: “24,000 acres of the choicest rubber land of Mexico, upon which over 700,000 vigorous young rubber trees now thrive. On the plantation also are numerous mahogany trees, some of which are of prodigious growth, thus demonstrating the richness of the soil.”

The enterprise clearly made an impression on Westenberg and Girvin, since they both got involved in the rubber business. The former was president of the Rio Michol Rubber Plantation Co. (with Girvin as corporate secretary), managing director of the Chiapas Rubber Plantation Co., and a broker for their securities. At the same time, he acted as president of the United States Gold Dredging Co., again with Girvin as secretary.

The Westenbergs lived in San Francisco until 1903. Fortune must have smiled on Westenberg’s business dealings, for in February 1903—a little over two years after leaving the ministry—he bought three adjacent lots on Benvenue Avenue, in the recently subdivided Berry-Bangs Tract.

His new home, designed by Albert Dodge Coplin (1869-1908), cost a substantial $11,000. Coplin, one of the more popular and prolific architects in the East Bay, was the son of Alanson Coplin (1835-1906) a clergyman who had withdrawn from the Methodist Church to form his own evangelical Church of Christ. The Coplins settled in Oakand in the late 1870s, and Coplin père put food on the table by acting as general agent for Dr. Warner’s Health Corsets and other “dress reform and hygienic garments.” Alanson’s Corset House was a longtime fixture at 1157 Broadway, where young Albert worked as a clerk before turning to contracting and building in the early 1890s.

As in the alliance with Girvin, it may have been the Methodist connection that drew Westenberg and Coplin together. In designing the Westenberg house, Coplin pulled out all the stops. The house was the first on its block, surrounded by open land that had been wheat fields as late as 1902. Coplin heaped on steep gables that echoed the Berkeley hills looming to the east.

Clad in clapboard on the ground floor and shingles above, the house is fronted by one of Coplin’s signature asymmetrical clinker-brick chimneys (a similar chimney may be seen at 2920 Hillegass Avenue). Situated on the northernmost parcel of a triple lot, the house presented its flank to the street, facing a vast garden to the south. The massive front door, almost as wide as it is tall, is set in the south façade between enormous twin gables. In the rear, the old converted barn and carriage house are still extant.

The garden was Jessie Westenberg’s pride and joy. When Berkeley Gazette columnist Hall Johnson visited her in 1943, he wrote that “the gardens look as if they had been lifted from Golden Gate Park and brought across San Francisco Bay.” Those being war years, the Westenbergs cultivated a large Victory garden behind the ornamental shrubs and roses.

After the house was completed in October 1903, Coplin was a favorite dinner visitor. He never forgot to bring chocolates for little Bethany, while his own two children—the products of a failed six-year marriage—were all but ignored. In 1908, when he was killed in a freak accident involving his own pistol while on a car outing with a young woman, the former Mrs. Coplin, a music teacher who divorced him on charges of cruelty, said only, “I am too busy teaching to talk about Mr. Coplin.”

In the wake of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, Charles Westenberg moved his office from the Crocker Building in San Francisco to the First National Bank Building in downtown Berkeley. Here he engaged in a succession of business enterprises, some more profitable than others.

For a while he was treasurer (Girvin was secretary) of the Copper Canyon Mining Co. of Mayer, Arizona, organized in 1905 and apparently moribund by 1909. In May 1907, Westenberg was one of a group of Berkeley capitalists who formed the San Francisco Motor Car Company. In their planned West Berkeley factory, they intended to build “high-grade delivery wagons and motor vehicles of all types used in freight transportation,” reported the Oakland Tribune. The factory was never built, but the company acted as agent and dealer of Dolson Automobile Co. of Charlotte, Michigan, selling the now forgotten Dolson car.

The United States Gold Dredging Co. and the Consolidated Gold Dredging Co. also did not fare well. On Jan. 8, 1911, Ernest Girvin filed a lawsuit against his old friend, accusing him of having defrauded him and other inverstors of $150,000 by misrepresenting the value of the mining claims. “Westenberg is the only one who has made anything of this company,” complained Girvin in court. Later the same month, another disgruntled investor launched a separate suit.

Only a year before being sued for fraud, Westenberg addressed the congregation of the College Avenue Methodist Church, denouncing the sins of card playing and dancing. The newspapers did not report the outcome of the lawsuits, but Westenberg was soon enough out of the gold dredging business and into the sheet metal business. The Mexican rubber plantations petered out during the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s, “when the laborers became more interested in fighting each other than working on the plantation,” as Jessie Westenberg told Hal Johnson. Now Charles turned his attention to real estate, and in the last decade of his life was listed as a building contractor.

The Westenberg House, now in the hands of its third owner, will be open for viewing on BAHA’s Spring House Tour this coming Sunday, May 4, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. See berkeleyheritage.com for full details.

My two previous columns provided background on planned major construction by the University of California and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in undeveloped areas of Strawberry Canyon, and discussed a state and federally listed species, the Alameda whipsnake, which very likely inhabits the area to be developed. (Since last week I’ve received a credible report of a whipsnake sighting in the UC Botanical Garden, near the proposed site of the Helios Facility.)

The whipsnake is far from the only sensitive species in the canyon. The draft environmental impact reports (DEIRs) for Helios and for the Computational Research and Theory Facility (CRT), planned for Blackberry Canyon, list a number of plants considered vulnerable by the California Native Plant Society and animals with federal or state special status—too many to discuss them all.

One creature in particular provides an object lesson in the politics of endangerment. It’s not officially listed as endangered or threatened by either the federal or state governments. But the state Department of Fish and Game includes it in its list of Special Animals, with a ranking of globally endangered.

That’s because the entire population—the entire global population—of the Lee's microblind harvestman may be limited to Blackberry Canyon, next door to the projected CRT site.

Microcina leei is an arachnid, not a proper spider but related. Technically, it’s a phalangodid. Its larger kin are the fragile-looking creatures known as daddy-longlegs. M. leei is, as its common name suggests, very small (not quite a millimeter in body length) and sightless. It appears to live only under sandstone rocks in oak grassland.

Its scientific history is brief. The species was first collected in Blackberry Canyon, also known as Woolsey Canyon, in 1960. Twenty-three years later it was refound there, and additional specimens were collected in Claremont Canyon. Darrell Ubick and Thomas S. Briggs, entomologists at the California Academy of Sciences, described it as a new species in 1989.

I was able to reach Ubick, who is still with the Academy, by email. He said he and Briggs had revisited both the Blackberry/Woolsey and Claremont sites in later years. “Of the several visits to this area we encountered M. leei only at Woolsey Canyon and only on one occasion,” Ubick wrote. “Obviously, their population is very low and more work would be needed to ascertain how stable it is.”

As far as Google Scholar knows, no one has done any subsequent research on M. leei. In the mid-nineties, it and six other Microcina harvestmen were considered for federal listing. The others, found only in serpentine habitats, were eventually included in a Recovery Plan for Serpentine Soil Species. M. leei, with its predilection for sandstone, was the odd arachnid out. Then it seems to have fallen through the regulatory cracks. No one has ever gone to court on its behalf. It’s not charismatic, majestic, beautiful, or cuddly.

It just happens to be a unique biological entity, found nowhere else on earth except a couple of spots in the Berkeley/Oakland Hills—maybe just one spot, since Ubick and Briggs couldn't find it again in Claremont Canyon. In a rational world where the federal government took the Endangered Species Act seriously, M. leei would be a slam-dunk for listing. (California’s legislation excludes insects, and it’s insect-like enough for DFG.) In a rational world, a lot of things would be different.

I’ve gone through the EIRs, for the CRT as well as separate UC and LBNL Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) reports. UC’s LRDP EIR doesn’t even mention the harvestman. The Lab’s LRDP EIR describes its habitat requirements, citing Ubick, and goes on to say this: “Although the species has no formal status, its known habitat at LBNL will continue to be protected from development by its designation as a fixed constraint under the 2006 LRDP.”

Well, maybe. In the CRT DEIR, there is a curious inconsistency and a slightly different spin. The distance from the CRT site to known harvestman habitat is given as 350 feet on page 4.3-30 and 500 feet on page 4.3-37. Referring to that habitat and to nearby willow riparian scrub, the report concedes: “In the absence of avoidance measures, these habitats could be indirectly affected during construction of the proposed project.” At this point one might expect a description of those avoidance measures. But the report just says that LBNL will employ “a wide array of construction-period ‘best management practices’” to minimize impact, and concludes: “No project-level mitigation required.”

Although the EIR maintains that “suitable habitat is not present on the project site” itself, there is no indication that anyone has looked for M. leei there.

It comes down to this: a globally unique species lives just across the road from, if not on, the CRT construction site, and no special precautions are being contemplated to protect it.

Years ago, the visionary conservationist Aldo Leopold wrote: “The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, ‘What good is it?’….To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” I would think that would cover even blind arachnids that hide under rocks.

Some days I feel like I’m juggling so may balls that I ought to be on the Ed Sullivan show (this is an age test, folks). You remember that guy who had a dozen plates all spinning high in the air on little wooden dowels? Perhaps that’s a better analogy, since I’m quite sure that, if I were to rest for a minute or two, I’d be surrounded by shattered china. I’m sure you know the feeling?

It’s this mindset that results in so many of us responding to warnings with hands held up in mime defense, can’t get to it. Don’t have time. I’ll wait until it’s really needed.

But houses don’t wait. They fall apart when their darned-well good and ready and some parts fail in ways that don’t show us until very bad things happen (perhaps flood or fire).

I can’t tell you how often I’ve reported a condition to the cries of “but it’s still working.” If this were the baseline of judgment, I would never be needed and I must confess that by a more Buddhist thinking, I’m not. Things happen. Maybe bad, maybe good. Oh well, that’s life. Frankly, I think we can all do better.

Systems fail or become increasingly dangerous or unreliable at rates that we do not normally perceive. That’s why we go to the dentist on a schedule, rather than simply when our jaw begins to sing. And similarly, we stand a better chance of avoiding the worst of cases when we investigate periodically and consider the words (sage or otherwise) of people who know about these things.

Each of us knows about something really well. I don’t program computers or work on cars later than 1975 (actually, it’s not pretty when I work on older one, either, so I tend to avoid it). So, it’s best to confess our limitations and to consider the dangers (though many are simply financial) of ignoring the many parts that make up our sub- or super-million dollar abodes.

The example that arose the other day was a furnace. I knew that the one I was looking at was pretty near the failure point (although these can vary by a decade) but the client looked straight at me and said “But it’s still working”. True enough. It was still working and furnaces will continue to work as they begin to pump carbon monoxide into the house or start a fire near a hot flue. In fact, if they stopped working when something dangerous was happening, I wouldn’t care so much about having them checked-out, but that’s not the way things work.

The same is true with the brakes on your car. If you’re moderately prudent, you’ll have them looked on a fairly regular basis and repaired as per the advice of your mechanic so that you can rely upon them when the need arises.

Electrical breakers aren’t as reliable as the years roll by, either. In fact, breakers that never trip can be the ones that start fires. Breakers are supposed to trip. In fact, that’s all they do. If a breaker never trips and the current on a particular line is excessive, this can cause a fire, ergo the need for breakers. So, how would you ever know that you need new breakers? They’re not going to call you up and say, “Ned, I’m tired and I don’t think I’m going to be able to protect you any longer. Best to get a younger breaker and send me on a cruise.”

The only thing to do is to get these things looked at by people who know … once in a while.

Another one I like is flood protection. Those who’ve never had a flood in their house are hard sells on flood prevention. Those who’ve been though it (or know someone who has) buy the bill of goods sight unseen. Washing machines cause thousands of floods each year in the U.S. and a few simple measures can prevent tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage (as well as the loss of personal treasures) but the hardest hurdle in surmounting such mayhem is accepting the notion that what has not yet occurred is no predictor of what’s to come.

I’ll wrap this abrasive little diatribe up with one last unpleasant line and it’s my personal favorite because it so fully suits this challenge to “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Houses don’t tell you that they’re not ready for earthquakes. This is a very hard set of arguments to make and as the years roll on, it doesn’t get any easier. The problem is that a house that has never been exposed to the force of a really large earthquake gives no sign of its vulnerability. A house may stand erect and square for a hundred years if it has never seen more than a 5.0 earthquake and be irreparably damaged when a 7 comes along for the simple reason that 7s are roughly a thousand time more powerful than 5s.

I don’t really like going to the dentist but the prospect of yet another root canal (yes, it’s true) keeps me going regularly. I also tend to distrust brake shops but, again, I go, hold my nose and do as I’m told (although I may get a second opinion, which, by the way, is perfectly reasonable for your furnace, electrical or seismic issues).

Fires occur to many, floods too, and while no set of habits wipe these off the white board of future history, they can be lessened with prudent measures.

I don’t have any advice for the overly busy as I haven’t manage that one myself but I do observe with stunned awe that some manage to put together lists, plan ahead and call for periodic analysis of their houses. Whether this is done by my ilk (the lowly home inspector) or a range of other experts, getting the varied systems of your house looked at on a semi-regular basis can extend its life, maintain its value and help to prevent small and large disasters that can ruin your day.

The only thing you’ll have to do is to give up that fine (and annoying) whine, “But it’s still working!”

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at mgcantor@pacbell.net.

Posted Mon., April 28—In the six weeks between the Mississippi and Pennsylvania primaries, the campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination deteriorated into trench warfare. When the dust cleared, Hillary Clinton won a nine-point victory in Pennsylvania, one that moved her no closer to securing the nomination. And the struggle between Clinton and Obama left a trail of bitterness.

A recent Pennsylvania Quinnipiac poll found that 25 percent of likely Clinton voters said, “they will vote for Republican Sen. John McCain in November if Obama is the Democratic candidate.” This mirrors an earlier national Gallup poll that found 28 percent of Clinton voters avowed to support McCain. Given that Clinton and Obama have virtually identical positions on most issues, why would a supporter of liberal Clinton switch to conservative McCain—a reprise of George Bush?

Some of this shift is attributable to racism—voters who don’t want to see a black man as president, but a substantial component may due to the angry feelings of female Clinton backers. When I talked with women who supported Clinton, I found their complaints fell into three categories:

Hillary Clinton has been subjected to gender bias.

All the women felt the press has been prejudiced against Sen. Clinton because she is an assertive female. They believed Senator Obama has garnered uncritical acceptance—at least until he made his infamous “bitter” comments. They noted the apparent glee with which the press—particularly MSNBC commentator Chris Matthews—greeted news of Clinton’s eminent demise in the New Hampshire primary. The consensus was that the male members of the press don’t like Hillary and root for her to fail.

In a January New York Times Op-Ed Gloria Steinem noted “Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life.” The women I interviewed shared this sentiment and noted that while it would be groundbreaking for a black man to be president, it would be even more momentous for a woman to enter the oval office. They also observed that women are more likely than men to vote—in 2004, 54 percent of all voters were women and the percentage is expected to go up—while African-Americans are approximately 11 percent of the electorate.

My contacts described Hillary Clinton as smart, experienced, and hardworking. They believed that if she were a man she would have already secured the nomination, but because of gender bias, she will now likely lose it. They noted that while Clinton is an effective speaker and has unusual command of the facts—and Obama can be a halting speaker with a distant, professorial tone—the press often describes her as shrill and condescending, while they reserve none of these descriptors for Obama. (Indeed, research on gender bias indicates successful female managers are often characterized as “more deceitful, pushy, selfish, and abrasive” than their male counterparts.)

The nomination rules are prejudiced.

Several women opined the rules for the Democratic primaries are unfair and, therefore, have disadvantaged Sen. Clinton. They said the rules allocating delegates for the states are so complicated few understand them and that’s why Clinton won the popular vote in the Texas primary but Obama received more delegates. They observed that Clinton usually won primaries while Obama generally won caucuses because the caucus process is arcane. All were outraged that the votes of Michigan and Florida voters were not counted; from their perspective, the male leaders of the Democratic Party disallowed these results because they favored Obama. They felt women and “women’s issues” have been marginalized in the Democratic Party and women rarely have power within the Party itself.

The women I interviewed noted that at the end of March, senior Democrats—all men—called for Sen. Clinton to withdraw. They felt that if it had been Sen. Obama who was behind, rather than Clinton, there would not have been this rush to prematurely end the competition.

There’s no likely female Presidential candidate in the wings.

The most common complaint was the most poignant: Women have waited 88 years for a female President and, if Sen. Clinton loses the competition for the 2008 presidential nomination, they may have to wait many more years. The women I interviewed observed that Hillary Clinton is by far the strongest female candidate to emerge in their lifetimes and they do not expect another comparable female contender to emerge in the near term.

In summary, the women I talked to are upset: they see Hillary Clinton as the best chance to have a female president in their lifetime; and the feel the Democratic leadership has disenfranchised them. Some of them are angry enough to consider voting for John McCain. They are bitter.

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net

The recent victory of Fernando Lugo in Paraguay’s presidential election not only broke the right-wing Colorado Party’s 61-year monopoly on power, according to journalist and author Richard Gott, it signals “that the new mood in Latin America is not just a creation of a competent economist in Ecuador, a charismatic colonel in Venezuela, or a couple of union leaders in Brazil and Bolivia, but the result of a heartfelt and deep-rooted desire for change.”

But the “pink tide” that has swept leftists and reformers into power throughout the region is hardly going unnoticed in Washington. Journalist and researcher Raul Zibechi, a member of the Editorial Council of the weekly Brecha de Montevideo, says the United States has stepped up destabilization efforts in Venezuela and, according to a recent study by the Brazilian magazine, Military Power Review, is turning the Bush administration’s last reliable ally in South America, Colombia, into a military juggernaut.

Lugo’s decisive win against Colorado Party candidate Blanca Ovelar and former general Lino Oviedo will, says Paraguayan farmer union leader Tomas Zayas, “open a door for more change for the future, but that’s all. We will take what we can get.”

Certainly Lugo is no leftist in the mold of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez or Bolivia’s Evo Morales. Indeed, he describes himself as a “centrist.” But in the context of Paraguay’s long history of military dictatorships and savage repression, Lugo—a former Catholic Bishop—represents a sea change for the landlocked country of 6.7 million people.

Heading up a 10-party coalition of unions, rural farmers, liberal reformers, socialists and leftists called the Patriotic Alliance for Change, Lugo ran on a platform of land reform, reducing poverty, investing in education, and ending corruption. The new president also plans to renegotiate energy agreements with Brazil and Argentina for a bigger piece of the hydroelectric energy pie.

More than a third of Paraguayans live on less than $2 a day, and in recent years, enormous agribusiness corporations and Brazilian soy giants have turned the country into the fourth largest exporter of soybeans in the world. Huge companies, like Monsanto, Cargill, Pioneer, Syngenta, Dupont, Archer Daniels Midland, and Bunge are producing soy, corn, wheat, sunflower and rapeseed at industrial levels.

The losers in all this have been small farmers and indigenous people forced off their land though a campaign of intimidation, violence, and chemical warfare. According to the United Nation’s Committee of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, “The expansion of the cultivation of soy has brought with it the indiscriminate use of toxic pesticides, provoking death and sickness in children and adults, contamination of water, disappearance of ecosystems and damage to the traditional nutritional resources of the communities.”

Benjamin Dangl and April Howard of “Upside Down World” say that, in the four departments where soy cultivation is the highest, “78 percent of families in rural communities” had health problems from the frequent spraying of crops.

Much of Lugo’s base is among these small farmers and rural communities where he has championed the plight of the poor and landless. “There are too many differences between the small group of 500 families who live with a first-world standard of living while the great majority live in a poverty that borders on misery,” he says. Every Paraguayan “has the right to be settled on his own land.”

But what that means in practice is by no means clear, particularly given that his opposition will not only be Paraguay’s traditional elites, but the multinationals as well.

Lugo has pledged to increase his country’s slice of the energy pie. Brazil currently pays Paraguay $100 million for energy from Italpu Dam, which is jointly owned by both countries. But the electricity is worth 10 times that amount. Brazil says it won’t renegotiate the 1973 energy treaty, and Lugo is threatening to take the issue before the World Court.

Argentina also has a below-market agreement for electricity generated by the Yaycreta Dam, which it jointly owns with Paraguay.

At the same time, Lugo is hardly spoiling for a fight with Brazil and Argentina. Like them, he is critical of free trade agreements with the United States and says he would rather work through South America’s MERCOSUR, the continent’s common market.

Zibechi argues that the first stage of the U.S. counter stroke against the growth of South American independence was Plan Colombia. While the plan has long been sold as a drug interdiction strategy, much of the program’s $5 billion in aid has in fact gone toward beefing up Bogota’s military.

In stage two, Colombia began spilling its civil war into neighboring countries. Finally, on Mar. 1, Colombia launched a “pre-emptive” strike against FARC insurgents in Ecuador. In the aftermath of the raid, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe accused Venezuela of supporting of supporting FARC, a charge the Chavez government denies.

Plan Colombia has certainly turned Bogota into the big dog on the block. Colombia has 210,000 soldiers compared to 190,000 in Brazil, which has four times Colombia’s population and seven times its territory. At 6.5 percent of its Gross Domestic Product, Colombia now has the highest military spending on the continent. In comparison, U.S. military spending is 4 percent of its GDP, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 2 percent, and the rest of South America 1.5 to 2 percent.

Added to Colombia’s 210,000 army troops are 60,000 other uniformed forces, plus 142,000 police. The United States has supplied Black Hawk helicopters, and Bogotá just purchased fighter planes from Israel and Brazil.

According to Zibechi, U.S. strategy is aimed at “altering the military balance in the region,” with Venezuelan and Ecuadorian oil “in the crosshairs.” A subsidiary goal is to check the emergence of Brazil as a regional power.

Venezuela currently supplies 15 percent of the United States’ oil needs. Colombia also ships oil to the U.S. but its estimated reserves of 20 billion barrels are dwarfed by Venezuela’s 240 billion.

According to Venezuelan Senator Julio Garcia Jarpa, rightwing Colombian paramilitaries are infiltrating Tachira, Apure, Zulia, and Merida states, where most of Venezuela’s oil is located. Garcia, who represents Tachira, says the paramilitaries are not only intimidating local communities, they are active in supporting a plan for the four states--an area constituting one-third of Venezuela--to succeed.

The breakaway plot is similar to one by right wingers in Bolivia who are trying to break off the gas-rich eastern provinces of Santa Cruz and Tarija from the central government

Brazil and Venezuela have joined hands to counter some of these moves. Both have proposed a South American Defense Council, similar to NATO, to coordinate defense policies and deal with internal conflicts. Venezuela has been pushing for such a body for some time, but Colombia’s recent attack on Ecuador appears to have crystallized the idea.

According to journalist Cyril Mychalejko, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim reportedly told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley that the United States “should keep its distance” from the organization. Speaking in Caracas on April 21, Jobim said “This is a South American council and we have no obligation to ask for a license from the United States to do it.”

Indeed the winds of change are blowing through the Southern Cone these days, but armies of the night, and their patrons in Washington, are likewise on the move.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been engaging in a political-difference dialogue with one of the candidates for Oakland City Council At Large, Charles Pine. I’m not going to go into the details of that dialogue; it’s all on-line, and you can look it up, if you haven’t been following it. I only raise it because I hope this serves as an example of how political dialogue ought to take place. Mr. Pine put his political positions out on his campaign website, following that up with public statements at a candidates forum. I wrote my criticisms in my column about those positions, signing my name to the criticisms. Mr. Pine answered those criticisms in a letter to the editor of my newspaper and liked his answers so much, apparently, that he posted them as well on his campaign website under the link “Exchange With Columnist About Law And Order.”

In this discussion, I believe, Mr. Pine and I have had a fair exchange of ideas, out in the open, which the public can look up, if you’re interested, and make up your own mind about who is right, who is wrong, and who made the better argument. And that’s how political debate and political campaigns ought to work.

Unfortunately, everybody doesn’t operate that way.

A new political tactic has surfaced in Oakland in another local race. Sleazy. Reprehensible. One of the worst campaign tactics I’ve ever seen. It ought to be denounced, by everyone, and never allowed to gain any kind of traction in our area.

Sometime in that past several days--I have no idea how long it’s been up--an anonymous website has been posted at http://oaklandcitycrook.wordpress.com/ slamming the candidacy of 5th District City Council candidate Mario Juarez, who is running against longtime incumbent Council President Ignacio De La Fuente.

Under the front page title “The Oakland Swindler” with a picture of Juarez labeled “Corrupt Crook,” the website’s front page reads: “All the statements made in these pages can be verified through Public records. If you love Oakland, half as much as we do, you will look further into Mario Juarez’s background and make an informed decision. Don’t give Mario Juarez the opportunity to BANKRUPT our city, DESTROY our hopes and STEAL our hard earned tax payer dollars! Aside from being a crook, liar, dead beat father, etc., Mario R. Juarez has NO POLITICAL EXPERIENCE! He is a real estate agent, for crying out loud and a shady agent that sells illegal properties to innocent buyers! Mario R. Juarez can’t even manage his own business and his personal life is a disaster. How can we expect him to handle the many problems facing our city? MARIO JUAREZ is ROTTEN TO THE CORE but don’t take our word for it…”

The “Oakland Swindler” website then provides links to various pages, including “Fraud & Breach Of Contract,” “City Sues Mario,” “Bankruptcy,” “Under Investigation,” “Family Life,” and “Verify Facts,” all of which contain various allegations about Mr. Juarez, some of which are supposedly backed up by court docket numbers or police report numbers.

It would seem that with allegations so serious--libelous, in fact, if they are not true--those making the allegations would back them up by giving their own names.

They don’t, friends. The “Oakland Swindler” allegations against Mr. Juarez are all posted anonymously.

On the “About Us” link where the information about the website operators would normally be posted, the following paragraph is present: “We, the authors of this site, are a group of Fruitvale residents and merchants that have been lied to, stolen from, extorted, threatened and/or cheated by Mario Juarez. We may individually have our own different opinions about who should be council person for District 5 of Oakland, but there is one thing we all agree on: It SHOULD NOT be Mario Juarez. Everyone in the real estate industry in Oakland knows that Mario R. Juarez is ‘shady’. Everyone on International Boulevard, where some of us do business, know he is corrupt. We know if our identity is known, Mario will try to retaliate against us. He has threatened many of us. He has a dark heart and no conscience. We list sources of information where any of you can do your own investigation.”

But what if you want to start your investigation into who put up the money, gathered the information, and organized the “Oakland Swindler” website?

Well, that’s a bit more difficult. We can only take the “word” of the website organizers that they are actually Fruitvale merchants and residents who are so frightened of Mr. Juarez, they dare not take him on publicly.

The “Oakland Swindler” website backlinks to a website called “Oakland Council Elections 8.6.3” at http://cityofoakland.blogspot.com/. That website lists the five contested Oakland City Council races in the June 3rd election, recommending Patrick McCullough in District One over incumbent Jane Brunner, Sean Sullivan in District Three over incumbent Nancy Nadel and challenger Greg Hodge, De La Fuente in District 5, incumbent Larry Reid over challenger Clifford Gilmore in District 7, and Charles Pine in the At Large race where incumbent Henry Chang chose not to run.

The “View My Complete Profile” link on the “Oakland Council Elections 8.6.3” page takes you to a standard blog page at http://www.blogger.com/profile/02417238313152900550 that has no information about the blogger himself, herself, or themselves. There is a link to a separate blog page entitled “Mario Juarez. 100% Crook” that links back to the “Oakland Swindler” website, as well as contains the statement “Do not vote for this scumbag or Clint Killian” (Mr. Killian is a candidate in the At Large City Council race).

The “Oakland Council Elections 8.6.3” website also has includes a line on how these people intend to operate: “If you have info or dirt on candidates, such as Clinton Killian, let us know.”

So that they can post it anonymously, one supposes. How courageous.

Tips from unnamed sources--either from people who are truly anonymous, or from people who you know but who pass on a bit of information but ask that their names be kept out of it--are common in the news business, and every journalist is familiar with them. Some of journalism’s best stories come from such tips. The normal procedure is to follow up the suggestions with a review of public documents, if any, and with interviews with people willing to go on the record. Sometimes this leads to real stories. Sometimes it leads to dead ends.

And so, because of the explosiveness of the nature of the charges against Mr. Juareaz on the “Oakland Swindler” website, there may be something of a temptation to ignore the method in which the information came, and to follow up to see if any of the allegations are true. At the very least, I could contact the Juarez campaign for comment, and contact the De La Fuente campaign to see if they know anything about it.

But under these circumstances, I am going to resist that temptation. This is different from the usual “tip” from an unnamed source. In those situations, the “tip” is made to the journalist, and it is up to the journalist and the journalist’s media outlet to decide whether or not the information should be followed up on, and published. In this case, the unverified, unsourced “tips” have already been disseminated, on the anonymous website.

Some other journalist in town, probably, will take the bait and follow up on the allegations themselves, but it won’t be me.

The reason is, I think this type of anonymous dissemination of unverified slander--on anybody--should not be encouraged. Instead it should be denounced as the slimey, low-lifed, cowardly, and underhanded tactic that it is. These tactics have no place here.

There is also an argument to be made that by publicizing the website in this column, it will lead people to look at the website who otherwise might not, therefore spreading the ugly venom I say I am trying to prevent. Unfortunately, that is one of the traps that the anonymous “Oakland Swindler” website puts us in. Denouncing it gives it publicity. But in my opinion, ignoring it is worse.

Back to the issue of the allegation by the “Oakland Swindler” website organizers that they are afraid of retaliation from Mr. Juarez if they let their names be known. Retaliation can be a real fear, especially if you go after the powerful. But Mr. Juarez hardly seems to fit the category of someone people in Oakland need to be afraid of. Even in the worst of the charges against him on the “Oakland Swindler” website, there do not appear to be any charges that his enemies or opponents have been shot at, or their businesses burned. Oakland has a history of open criticism of some of the most powerful politicians in the state or the area, politicians who have been known to retaliate: State Senate President Don Perata, or former Oakland mayor, and now California Attorney General Jerry Brown, Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente. Although I don’t agree with many of those criticisms, the people who have been criticizing Mayor Ron Dellums since Mr. Dellums’ election in 2006 have been willing to do so publicly and openly, putting their names and their charges out for everybody to see. Should our hearts now pump Kool-Aide (to use the popular street term) because of fear that someone like Mario Juarez might get angry about being criticized? Sorry, friends, but that has the ring of self-serving bogus to it, a way to hide identity behind another, anonymous charge.

If the charges against Mr. Juarez contained anonymously and in such a cowardly way in the “Oakland Swindler” website are actually true, let the organizers of the website reveal their names, reveal their funding sources, and stand behind their words, as the rest of us do. Otherwise, they should be denounced by all in Oakland--regardless of our political differences and our various positions on the issues--who agree that those differences should best be aired honestly and openly, giving people who are attacked a fair chance to respond.

If the “Oakland Swindler” organizers can’t abide the revealing light of the sun, they ought to go back to the shadow from whence they crawled. Oakland doesn’t need this.

If your house disappears from zillow.com, does that mean it no longer exists? Because that’s exactly what happened last month.

My house became N/A. Not Applicable. I was pretty sure it was still there, given that I was living in it, but still, it gave me pause. For one thing, I had already watched its value drop precipitously from $1,025,000 to $644,000 inside of two weeks, sometime around the end of last year. But to disappear altogether, like the hundred plus years it’s been here mean nothing? That’s harsh.

At first I thought maybe it had been removed from their algorithm because it’s an anomaly—there are few other 3800 square foot bunga-mansions in my Fruitvale neighborhood. But this week it suddenly reappeared, now sporting a value of $723,000. All is right with the world.

For those who have not dabbled in the various forms of real estate porn, zillow.com is a website that will give you a value for your house, your neighbor’s house, your employer’s house, or any other house you have an address for.

The number is pretty much meaningless, since the only way to really determine the value of your house is to sell it. A price agreed upon by a willing seller and a willing buyer (and these days, a willing lender) is the market value. Of course you could have an appraisal done, but an appraisal is essentially a well-educated guess, and also it’s not free, unlike Zillow. So Zillow is mostly for amusement purposes, although it vaguely shows price trends.

The problem with Zillow here in the East Bay is that the housing stock varies greatly, unlike newer tract homes in the suburbs where lots of houses were built at the same time that are the same size, floor plan, etc. Nor does it allow much for upgrades that may have been done, or the fact that one house has been maintained and the other is falling apart.

And like any computer program, it’s garbage in-garbage out, so if the data from public records isn’t up to date, it’s not really based in reality. Nor does it know the things that real estate agents and people in the neighborhood know—that this is the one good block on an otherwise questionable street, or that a huge condo project has just been approved that will cut off all privacy in a particular house’s backyard, or that a new neighborhood amenity is about to open. (All real estate ads in my neighborhood now seem to announce, “Close to Farmer Joe’s!”)

Just to get an average, I tried a couple of other sites besides Zillow. At cyberhomes.com, my house was valued at $905,256. Makes it seem like it must be really accurate, that $256. Over at eppraisal.com, I got a range of prices, from $1,241,667 at the low end, $1,460,875 in the middle, and $1,679,902 at the top. This site actually gives you the addresses and values for the comps they used. That the comps were all in Crocker Highlands, Montclair, and Piedmont didn’t surprise me—my house, as I said, is an anomaly, hard to find comparables for. But all the comps were from eight months ago—things have changed rather a lot since then.

Does any of this matter? Well, yes, to the extent that people accept Zillow’s figures as reflecting reality. Though I think most people take it all with a large grain of salt, some people whose Zillow values have dropped are up in arms, threatening to report them to the Better Business Bureau and such. Maybe I should go after them—after all, eppraisal says my house is worth $1.6 million.

Jane Powell is available for restoration consulting at hsedressng@aol.com, because her house isn’t really worth $1.6 million and she still has to work.

Dunsinane: Thataway. Lisa Arnold, a hands-on owner, totes Japanese maples to a new display.

I’m sure there’s a reasonable rationale behind it but to a posyhugger, the stretch of road leading into Sunol-Ohlone Regional Park is an instrument of torture. All along the roadcut on your right, if you’re on time for it, you’ll see a fine display of paintbrush, the occasional blue dicks and bindweed, and the first flush of Calochortus albus, the subtly gorgeous white fairy-lantern, much of it conveniently near eye-level as you pass.

All this is liberally interspersed with a stiff procession of “NO PARKING” and “NO STOPPING” signs. They haven’t thought to add “NO CREEPING” so you can take it slow. Hard to photograph, though.

If the lanterns are blooming along the road they’ll also be blooming inside the park proper, fortunately. Less fortunately to those of us in our creaky years, you have to hike almost to Little Yosemite to see them. Then you have to hunker in the dust and burrs to get a close-up, unless it’s dry enough to stand in the roadside ditch where they grow on the hillside.

On the way you can see an active red-shouldered hawks’ nest, singing house wrens, goldfinches, titmice, nuthatches, bluebirds, acorn and Nuttall’s woodpeckers, rufous-crowned sparrows, black-headed grosbeaks, ash-throated flycatchers, and if you’re lucky, a western screech-owl blinking at the sun from a sycamore hollow.

Better get there soon; grasses are ripening and browning already, and the season’s likely to be short this year. This weekend would be good, for the tag end of a nearby Earth Day party.

When you exit 680 onto Calaveras Road, just past the intersection with the northbound offramp, there’s Lisa Arnold Nursery. Over the years that’s been wholesale and/or retail at irregular intervals. It’s retail now, and owner Lisa Arnold (surprise) says it’ll stay that way “if we do well this year.”

She’s celebrating Earth Week with refreshments and 171 free gallon-size coast live oak seedlings, festivities centered on a clever arrangement of gallon-can plants in front of the office as a simple Western Hemisphere map.

Part of the celebration is off-site: planting the first of 171 donated trees in front of Fremont’s John F. Kennedy High School on Tuesday April 22, official Earth Day. Arnold gave the school district a tree for every home run the A’s got in 2007.

The nursery has reasonably-priced Japanese maples, seriously striking rhododendrons and azaleas, palms, tree ferns (inexpensive!), dogwoods, tropicals, flower and foliage color, and lots of trees. Rhodies include some with yellow or deep-claret flowers.

New to me: a bright-yellow-leafed smoketree; a small single dahlia with dark maroon foliage and lemon-yellow blooms.

You couldn’t ask for better conditioning than on that hot open lot, if you’re planting east of the hills or in full sun. It’s loud during rush hour, so grab your rock-n-roll earplugs. Worth it!

If you get to know anyone well enough, you’ll eventually find out which super-power they have. Most super-powers are fairly innocuous while a few are more apparent and seemingly heroic. My ex-girlfriend could find a parking place in front of coliseum Rock & Roll events. Right smack in front. Stunning. Clearly a super-power. Some people know just when to buy the 24 pack of toilet paper and never run out. For some, this is inconceivable. Some can find the screw they dropped in the grass, while I’ve been forced to leave many behind. Next time you pass some little balding guy on the street, remember, he has a super power. See if you can guess which one he has. It might be a doozy.

My super power works some of the time, sort of like those TV cop-show psychics. I’m getting it. I’m getting it. I see a bolt, a wire. No, it’s gone cold. I’ve lost it. My super power is X-ray vision but, like I said, it’s very spotty. Too bad because I need it in my job and I really needed it the other day.

As has often occurred, I was looking at a house wherein the basement had been fully finished out and there were big questions about the work that been done in the development of the space.

With walls finished off and a fresh coat of paint on the surfaces, it gets very hard to say what’s behind the walls. One tries to peek as much as possible but, often, the views are scant and cryptic. As I’ve previously suggested, a set of photos, digital or otherwise, make all the difference. If you’re doing work of this sort (inaccessible once completed), please take a hundred pictures. Drawings and permits are also useful but they require acceptance of the notion that these are reflective of the what was actually done and this is, too often, not truly the case, even when city inspectors have signed the card.

Let me tell you about what we didn’t know on this particular day:

Basements are places where we often get our best views of plumbing, mechanical (gas piping and appliances), electrical wiring, structural elements and connections including the foundation and damage done by water and pests. I may spend half of an inspection in a basement, they (basements) being so rich in data. So it’s very frustrating when they’ve been occluded in this manner. This particular one also added the concern that comes of a below-ground space having been changed from a storage and utility space into a living space.

Basements sometimes get damp or even a little wet and some get really wet when they’re well below ground level. For the lawn mower or the washing machine, this is probably not a big deal but this doesn’t work out so well for a bedroom or even a home office. The truth is (as they say on TV), your own result may vary. In short, it’s very hard to predict, but if X-ray vision is good for anything, it’s good for telling you where to look with your actual eyes. If you’re suspicious, you pull back the carpet, move the pile of storage and take a close look for whitish precipitates (efflorescence), stains and signs of that the bottoms of things were getting wet. The bottoms of furnaces get rusty and the bottoms of wooden crates will show stains that creep up from the bottom. Sometimes evidence is lean but you take what you’ve got. Sometimes you end up next door asking the neighbor if their basement gets wet.

With electrical and plumbing, it can be very frustrating. You have to look at all the other parts of those system as well as those places where these systems display themselves in the basement in order to make good guesses. See if you can find other contemporary work (was it the same electrician?) and gauge its quality. Often, other parts of the house were remodeled at the same time and these other places can give valuable clues. Sometimes not.

Basement remodels also present a very important set of conundra to those of us in seismically active areas. The way in which walls are bolted and braced between the foundation and the floor above are critical in how houses perform during earthquakes, and when basement get finished out, as I’ve described, these essential views are largely blocked from view. The X-ray views come in all cloudy and green. I grab my head like Kate Blanchet in The Gift. Nothing. But wait. Several small pieces of plywood bracing can be seen in the garage (same level) and the laundry room (opposite end).

The manner of attachment, the thickness of plywood and their placement were, at least partially, visible. These small pieces of information provided critically important information as to the quality of the seismic reinforcement that had been done. Without more information and with so much unseen, we could not draw definitive conclusions but much could be said. We could not know, for example, whether there was enough decay in these “cripple walls” to affect the strength of these walls or whether the framing had been altered in ways that would result in localized failures.

In an effort to capitalize on every square inch of possible living space, many of us have turned attics, basements, laundry rooms and garages into offices, dens and bedrooms.

While this can be done well and in compliance with building standards (not that the codes are the end-all and be-all of sensible construction), it’s important to also think about some of what gets covered up. I’d rather see mistakes made in a place where access could be found for future repairs than in a basement where there is neither access nor the view (but for your X-ray vision) to know that something needs addressing.

If you’re looking at houses, stop and ask yourself what a given space might have been used as or built for in the past (this is, of course, the real X-ray vision). If it is a basement, was this a space that has stayed bone dry? If it is an attic, was the floor framed for human habitation or is it too springy and weak? Is that back bedroom really a laundry room addition that’s sitting on a couple of pier blocks and destined to land in the side yard when the fault-line slips. Using your X-ray vision (deduction) you may be able to, at least, start asking relevant questions. You may end up feeling O.K. about the basement or the attic but you’ll be better off for having gone through this game of questioning.

So if you’re shopping for houses remember to use your super-powers. But be careful and considerate. X-ray vision should not be used on people (unless you’re a doctor) and that thing where you set things on fire? Best not.

Storytelling and Music Festival, with stories from the African American and Native American tradiitons from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17.

“Memories and Dreams of the Twentieth Century” An evening of stories written and performed by Michael D. Brown at 8 p.m. at Da Silva Ukulele Co., 2547 8th Street, suite 28, in the Sawtooth building between Dwight and Parker. Suggested donation $15.

Bay Area Poets Coalition Open Reading at 3 p.m. at Strawberry Creek Lodge, 1320 Addison St. Park on street, not in Lodge parking lot. 527-9905.

“Nothin’ to Somethin’” poetry and rap by Oakland high school students to raise funds for homeless teens at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org

“Memories and Dreams of the Twentieth Century” An evening of stories written and performed by Michael D. Brown at 7 p.m. at Da Silva Ukulele Co., 2547 8th Street, suite 28, in the Sawtooth building between Dwight and Parker. Suggested donation $15.

Dance-A-Rama Perfomance by Terrain and guests, in honor of National Dance Week. A different program every hour beginning at 1 p.m. at Eighth Street Artists’ Center, 2525 Eighth St. Reception at 5 p.m. 848-4878.

The scene should have been a familiar one to a theater reviewer: rows of seats, the seatholders with an air of anticipation, focused on the spectacle to commence before them.

As I took my own seat, I felt a little rush, similar to the pre-curtain exhilaration on an opening night. Nevertheless, I had that nagging feeling, like in a dream, that something was different, maybe wrong, like a schoolboy who hasn’t studied for a quiz, an actor going up on his lines.

This was because the attention in that room was focused on me, a guest speaker in one of Marion Fay’s Theatre Explorations classes for Albany Adult School at the Northbrae Community Center.

No matter how often you make your plaintive or congratulatory views known in print, how often you pipe up to put in your two cents worth, there’s a real difference between being a (more or less) professional spectator and becoming a public spectacle.

Getting a grip, I told myself (and the class) I’d been on stage before, periodically since youth, when my conjurer dad set me up with a little show of illusions to wow cub scout packs and kids’ parties.

But even that, and later ventures onto a stage, were in character—playing a role, I mean. This time, it was me as myself, the self that pecks out these mock-authoritative screeds on having seen some local show. And that was the upshot of those stage adventures—becoming a reviewer—about which I had been invited to the class to describe.

I’d gotten an e-mail a few months ago from my esteemed colleague, fellow Planet writer Phil McArdle, telling me about the class he and his wife Karen attended; an enthusiastic group, Phil said, led by a dynamic teacher who occasionally used my reviews. The class featured guest speakers. Would I be interested? How about it? Disarmed, flattered by these symptoms of readership, I replied YES. Phil put me in touch with Marion, and a more formal invite followed.

So with a few cues from Marion via e-mail, and many ruminations I knew were truthful and good, because they impressed me, I was ready to essay my stuff.

I dispensed, however, with my notes and preconceptions right off. The group had its own motor, just like a good production onstage does. I talked. We talked. The questions and remarks by classmembers were intelligent, informed, energetic ... And Marion’s occasional prompting kept me from wandering out into the far trees of self-enactment in the guise of thoughtful presentation.

What did I think of Future Me? Of Wakefield or Argonautica? All that was easy—and fun; I’d seen, thought about and written on each. And there never is enough space on newsprint to capture the outsized dimensions of that thought, much less the gear it’s clothed in.

What was harder to describe was being asked to detail the reviewing process. I watch plays, not myself watching plays, or maybe just enough to catch my own mannerisms and the faintest hunches about what’s going on onstage.

Still, when queried, a lot of subliminal stuff came flooding back. Like an athlete watching a game he was in on tape, it was a revelation, maybe even a readjustment.

The two hours went by quickly. Critics are supposed to be glib. Guess I got a vocation, after all.

The generosity of the class and teacher conquered me. I’d put out that old truism about theater being the most social of the arts, and discovered again what a broad community that was, with such depth.

Leaving, after passing through a few knots of after-hours discussion in the hallway and outside, I had the once-familiar, though never familiar enough, sensation going offstage to an audience’s applause. And I hadn’t forgotten my lines.

Follies is one of Sondheim’s greatest works,” said Michael Morgan, Oakland East Bay Symphony director and conductor, of the concert version of the Stephen Sondheim-James Goldman Tony-winning musical the symphony will stage at Oakland’s Paramount Theatre May 16 and 18, with Academy Award-Tony-Grammy winner Rita Moreno, Val Diamond (Beach Blanket Babylon) and cabaret diva Sharon McKnight as guest stars. “[It’s] the timeless story of aging, learning from past mistakes and passing wisdom down from generation to generation.”

Picking up on the theme of the wisdom passed from generation to generation, the symphony is presenting a free forum with live music, dance and song this Saturday, 1:30-4:30 p.m., at the Veterans Memorial Building, 200 Grand Ave. in Oakland.

With Morgan, assistant conductor Brian Nies and co-choreographer Ronn Guidi of Oakland Ballet as participants, the forum will feature Ted Chapin, director of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and author of Everything was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies, as keynote speaker.

A multigenerational panel, moderated by John Kendall Bailey, director of Trinity Lyric Opera and Voices of Music Sacra (and preconcert speaker for the symphony), will include Berkeley’s Barbara Oliver, founder of the Aurora Theatre; Golden Follies choreographer-dancer (and co-choreographer of Follies with Guidi) Diane Tembey-Stawicki; dancer Marie Mazza; Guidi; Oakland poet and mystery writer Lucha Corpi; Berkeley High drama student Nkili Birmingham; College of Alameda Music Department chair and jazz player Glen Pearson and career counselor Bonnie Bell of Bell Investments in Oakland.

The live show will be presented by StageBridge, a nonprofit internationally touring troupe of over-50 actors committed to intergenerational work, in selections (with child performers joining in) from their world premiere musical, Chicken Sunday (Jim Jenkins, piano), from Patricia Polacco’s book, as well as Sondheim songs sung by Darla Wigginton (with Brian Nies on piano) and Diane Tembey-Stawicki performing “Tap Dancing Through the Years.”

The Forum is presented by the Symphony in association with StageBridge and the Downtown Oakland Senior Center.

The concert version at the Paramount will feature, in addition to Moreno, Diamond and McKnight, tenor Trent Morant (former director of the Oakland Youth Chorus), soprano Sheri Greenawald (director of the San Francisco Opera Center) and soprano Melody Moore, as well as members of Berkeley Broadway Singers and members of Golden Follies, seniors who perform musical revues.

Carla Zilbersmith of Albany is a dynamic performer—jazz singer, impressionist, comic, actor—who has also been influential as teacher and director. Her original show, Wedding Singer Blues, was a critical success here and in Los Angeles. Diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), she’s retiring from teaching, but will continue to perform—at the JazzSchool, June 14 and Anna’s Jazz Island on July 11, and also at 8 and 10 p.m. this coming Tuesday, May 6, at Yoshi’s Jack London Square in a benefit for her, with 30 musicians, including musical satirist Roy Zimmerman as well as the JazzSchool Composers Collective Big Band. Carla will sing standards from her new CD Extraordinary Renditions. 238-9200, www.yoshis.com or www.quiltmamas.com.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni climbed up the red-tiled stairs of the International House at UC Berkeley on a recent April afternoon with the familiar gait of someone who has done it a thousand times before.

“Aren’t these pretty?” she asked, pointing at the colorful mosaic which gives the otherwise placid building on 2299 Piedmont Ave. the warmth hundreds of students flock to every year from all over the world.

Divakaruni—who called the historic residential center home from 1978 to 79 while completing her six-year Ph.D. program in Renaissance Literature at UC Berkeley—began her prolific literary career from its very rooms.

The American Book Award-winning author was back under its iconic dome last month to receive I-House Alumna of the Year honor—but this time she skipped her old dorm room and spent the night in the Ambassador Suite, reserved for VIP’s.

“I had no idea they even had something like this,” Divakaruni said, unpacking in her room after a five-hour flight from Houston, Texas, where she lives with her husband Murthy and two sons, Abhay and Anand.

“Bangla bolo?” (Do you know Bengali?) she asked me, and as we chatted in our common native tongue, familiar places, customs and people surfaced like voices from the past.

Divakaruni’s classmates at Loreto Convent, Calcutta, remember her as a good student, and an avid sketcher, often delving into the mystical and the magical to draw inspiration.

“Chitra was a five pointer, and mind you in those days getting five points wasn’t easy,” one of them told me in a telephone interview from Calcutta, where Divakaruni grew up.

About 8,000 miles away from the city where she was born, and where many of her novels were set, Divakaruni reminisced about her high school days, and her love for literature.

“I knew from the beginning that I wanted to major in literature, but I never knew I would be a writer,” she said. “I thought I would major in it and teach it at the university level, and that’s what I came here to Berkeley to do. And for many years I taught literature, and I still do, although I now teach creative writing.”

Myth and folklore play a prominent role in all of Divakaruni’s stories, but at the same time she also writes to destroy stereotypes about Indians, and to some extent, Americans.

Stories passed down orally through generations are often woven with intricate detail into her prose in an effort to keep long forgotten traditions alive.

“There are superstitions, there are traditional ways of thinking about women which I don’t agree with,” she says. “But I bring those in too. They are all part of the texture of Indian culture.”

A smattering of Bengali words such as parota, khichuri, chorchori can be found in almost all of Divakaruni’s stories—but her more recent novels neither italicize them nor list them under a glossary for the benefit of her western reader, something she promptly defends.

“English is always a changing language and with immigration many words have entered English and are entering English, and this is just part of that larger movement,” she said. “I wanted to introduce them into the texture of the book without pointing to them as foreign words which by italicizing you do.”

Divakaruni, who left the I-House for student housing in Albany after getting married, later went on to teach English at Foothill College in Los Altos.

As a professor of creative writing at the University of Houston, Divakaruni teaches the literature of India, where she introduces students to the works of her contemporaries—Salman Rushdie, V.S. Naipaul, Arundhati Ray and Anita Desai, and other Indian and Indian American prose writers.

“One of the things I miss about the Bay Area is that it’s just geographically so beautiful,” she said. “Another thing I like is the easy cultural mixing. It’s a place of great intellectual stimulation and social awareness. Houston is also culturally diverse but I notice people stay more within their ethnic groups.”

Bengal and Bengalis play a very important role in Divakaruni’s novels, as do themes such as alienation, rootlessness, domestic violence, economic disparity and loss of identity.

Her characters live, love and forge friendships inside Calcutta’s (Bengal’s capital city) centuries-old buildings or just find themselves inexplicably connected to the place through their past.

“Bangla culture is a big part of my writing,” Divakaruni continued. “I realized that in order to remember the people and places I knew while I was growing up, I needed to write.”

Standing in the middle of College Street—or “Boi Para” as it is commonly referred to—in present-day Calcutta, it is easy to picture Sudha and Anju, characters around which her novel Sister of My Heart is centered, being chaperoned down its sepia-tinted streets, as was customary in traditional middle-class Bengali families when Divakaruni was a young girl.

Divakaruni often draws inspiration for her characters from her own cross cultural experience, which began when she left Calcutta when she was 19 to pursue a master’s degree in English at Wright State University in Ohio.

“It was being an immigrant that made me into a writer, because when I moved away from my culture, I began to be able to see it more clearly,” she said. “When I was living in Calcutta, my culture was all around me. I didn’t give it much thought. It was only when you are in a place where you don’t have many Bengalis around you, you can’t speak your language, you can’t eat your food then you start thinking about those things, what they meant to you. You want to re-create those things.”

Living in the Bay Area, and especially in Berkeley, for a long time, made Divakaruni aware of different cultures.

Set in Oakland in the 1980s and recently made into a movie starring Aishwarya Rai, her novel Mistress of Spices shatters the divide between modern-day America and myth through Tilo, a magical figure who helps Indian immigrants overcome difficulties through her exotic spices, but in the end battles with her heritage to accommodate her own desire.

“A lot of it is about living in a culture that’s not your own and how you adapt to it,” Divakaruni said.

Women—especially those victimized by domestic violence or abuse—have always been central to Divakaruni’s writing, something the writer said piqued her interest when she was volunteering for the Women’s Center in Berkeley.

Today, Divakaruni serves on the board of the Bay Area-based Maitri and the advisory board of Daya in Houston—organizations which help battered South Asian or South Asian American women reclaim their lives.

“What I learned when I worked with women who were victims of abuse has changed me as a person, and some of them inspired me to create other characters.”

Two of her books, Arranged Marriage and Mistress of Spices, revolve around women trying to break out of difficult situations and the lack of respect society often has for them.

According to Divakaruni, incidents of domestic violence have increased since she helped start Maitri in 1991.

“The good thing is today, women come out more to talk about it,” she said. “Earlier there was a great deal of stigma attached with being abused. Womens’ organizations do a lot of outreach work in India today to explain to parents and families about what causes abuse. There are lots of checks and balances in place.”

Some of Divakaruni’s more recent writings (such as The Unknown Errors of Our Lives) also focus on the changing Indian Diaspora.

Her protagonists are people who go back to India to reconnect with their culture and take their children back with them to connect with their heritage, a theme that has also been explored by other Indian writers such as Amit Chaudhuri.

The Palace of Illusions—Divakaruni’s latest book—is a retelling of the Indian epic, the Mahabharat, through the eyes of one of its most misunderstood characters, the Princess Panchaali.

Divakaruni spent four years writing the book, which is twice the amount of time it usually takes her to write a novel.

Her meticulous historical research involved reading several different versions of the epic poem—including the translation from Sanskrit by the 17th century Bengali poet Kashiram Das—and learning about the architecture, food and beauty secrets which existed thousands of years ago.

“The story goes way back into an ancient world, and yet one of the things I wanted to show is that human concerns are not that different,” Divakaruni said. “Mahabharat is really on one level a book that warns us about the consequences of war, and look several thousands years later, we are involved in so many wars and so much destruction.”

Almost from the beginning of the medium, filmmakers sought to exploit cinema’s unique properties. From the moment they could, directors were eager to transcend the limits of traditional theater by putting the camera in motion, by sending it racing, swooping and soaring; by using a variety of lenses to shape the image, to magnify, distort and exaggerate; and by using the editing process to suggest, startle and surprise.

And while some of the most exciting filmmakers over the past century have been those who found ways to employ these devices with flash and panache, one of the greatest directors the medium has ever produced was one who limited himself to the simplest and most austere techniques.

Yasujiro Ozu, rather than employing his camera in bravura displays of pyrotechnic virtuosity, used it to simply observe his characters, to linger on their faces, on their homes, on their possessions—to look into the souls of everyday people under everyday circumstances. Not for Ozu the moody shadows and vertiginous angles of the expressionists, or the heightened reality and stylized melodrama of Hollywood fare. Ozu was both a naturalist and a rigorous formalist, a director who sought to capture life as it is lived, but within a framework of rigidly defined restrictions. He limited the camera’s range of motion and the angles from which it could gaze; he limited his editing to simple, direct cuts—no dissolves or fades; and dialogue was conveyed in simple master shots followed by alternating close-ups. This artistic code focused greater attention on content over form, allowing character to reveal itself, allowing dialogue to breathe, and allowing revelatory spaces to open up between words and gestures and characters. Thus relationships and motivations and plot points would gradually take shape before the viewer’s eyes.

Criterion has just released a three-disc set of Ozu’s early, silent films, called Silent Ozu. The set is the most recent in the company’s line of Eclipse boxed sets, highlighting lesser-known works, and follows the recent release of Late Ozu, a five-disc set of films from the last few years of the director’s career. Together the two sets form the bookends

of one of cinema’s monumental oeuvres.

It is a body of work consisting of more than 50 films, nearly all of them created in the same mold, with Ozu’s patient camera calmly observing his characters. He was not interested in dense plots or edge-of-your-seat melodrama; his work was almost literary, owing more to the novel than to film. “Rather than tell a superficial story,” Ozu said, “I wanted to go deeper, to show ... the ever-changing uncertainties of life. So instead of constantly pushing dramatic action to the fore, I left empty spaces, so viewers could have a pleasant aftertaste to savor.”

Though he is often regarded as the most Japanese of Japanese directors, whose cinema captured unique and very specific aspects of that nation’s life and culture, Ozu’s work easily transcends international boundaries, delving into character, relationships and commonplace issues to find the universal. His favored subjects included families and the relationships between generations; the aging process; city life versus rural life; and all the values that complement and conflict with one another in the ensuing drama: pragmatism and idealism, love and kindness, justice and forgiveness. “Intellectually we may be different,” said film scholar Donald Ritchie in reference to Ozu’s work, “but emotionally we’re very much the same.”

The three films on this set display Ozu’s remarkable ability to blend comedy with poignant drama. Tokyo Chorus starts with a long comedic sequence that soon seems like a wild digression as young men engage in a series of pranks and gaffes under the stern gaze of a schoolmaster. But once the sequence is over and the Chaplinesque hijinks have concluded, the film takes on a more somber tone, following the hardships of one of the young men as he grows up, struggles to support a family, and in the process learns humility, compromise and the value of friendship. But eventually, Ozu brings the film full circle, and the connections with the earlier scenes are made not only clear but dramatically satisfying.

These early films also give us a glimpse of a side of Ozu not visible in his later, more well-known work. A clever use of the moving camera draws parallels between the toil of children at school and the toil of clerks at the office. And a sustained bit of Lubitsch-style humor plays up the methods by which the workers attempt to glean the details of each others’ end-of-year bonuses.

I Was Born, But... examines the difficulties both of children growing up and of their parents in handling them. A man’s young sons brawl with the local kids in their new neighborhood to assert their dominance, and once they do they exercise their power without restraint. Later their father falls from his figurative pedestal as they witness him kowtowing to his boss, the father of one their schoolyard underlings. What follows is both a loss of innocence and a tough lesson in parenting, as the father tries to express the realities of adulthood and the boys learn that there are other ways to get along than by thundering in the brush and pounding one’s chest like a baboon.

On display in these early films are some of the techniques that Ozu would employ throughout his career: the floor-height vantage points that place his camera at eye level as his characters sit on the traditional tatami; and the alternating dialogue shots in which each character looks directly at the camera, placing the viewer right in the middle of the exchange, allowing greater identification with each character, with each argument and with each perspective.

The End of Summer, from the Late Ozu collection, demonstrates the tenacity with which Ozu stuck to his principles of filmmaking throughout his career. In this, his penultimate film, we see Ozu and his actors spin the same complex web of dreams and desires, motives and secrets. The family patriarch, a widower, seeks the company of his long-estranged mistress in his twilight years, much to the chagrin of his children. Meanwhile the next generation is struggling to maintain the family business he has left in their care. The film examines the issues faced by three generations of the family as they clash, argue and try to understand one another. There is no ill will involved, just the understated spectacle of people at different stages of life, trying to get along. Along the way, we see them share, deceive, sacrifice and scheme, but they are always human, always sympathetic and always compelling.

And herein lies much of the appeal of Ozu’s films: His calm, gently unfolding dramas give us time to not only get to know his characters, but also deeply care about them—to enjoy their humor, to admire their strength and to forgive their transgressions—so that, when a film ends, there is often a feeling of regret that these characters are gone from our lives. “Every time I watch an Ozu film,” says actor Eijiro Tong, “I start to feel very sentimental as the end of the film nears. As I think back over the story, it’s like a flood of old memories washing over me, one after another.”

This is the essential sadness and loneliness that resides at the core of Ozu’s work—the awareness of the inevitability of change and that beginnings are followed all too soon by endings.

The Westenberg House in it early years. The Claremont Hotel is visible in the distance.

Daniella Thompson

The massive front door.

Old Berkeley may have been solidly Republican, but it never lacked for colorful and even eccentric characters. How else to explain the flights of fancy some early Berkeleyans commissioned when building their homes a century ago?

One wouldn’t expect a Methodist minister to build an oversized storybook house, yet this is precisely what went up at 2811 Benvenue Ave. in 1903. The owner, Charles Albert Westenberg (1862-1927), was a self-contradictory man, adamantly opposed to card playing and dancing yet not at all scrupulous about profiting from the despoliation of nature or the ruination of his friends.

Westenberg was born in Pittsburgh, Penn., the son of a German agar maker. His brave mother gave birth to 14 children and outlived at least three of them, as well as her husband. While Charles was still a child, the family moved to Ohio, where he grew up and met his first wife, Louise Arndt, the daughter of Methodist physicians. Charles and Louise’s only child, Helen Lois, was born there in 1886.

Having been ordained as a Methodist Episcopal minister, Westenberg set out for southern California. In 1891 he was posted to San Diego County, serving at the First United Methodist Church in National City and at St. Paul’s Church of the Voyager in Coronado. Louise died that year, leaving him with the 5-year-old Helen.

From 1892 to ‘95, Westenberg was pastor of St. Paul’s Church in San Bernardino. At the Friday Morning Club of that city he met Miss Jessie DeWolfe (1856-1948), a Vermont-born schoolteacher of Dutch ancestry and a devoted Methodist. At the time, Miss DeWolfe was in charge of teaching the girls at the California State Reform School in Whittier. The couple was married in Los Angeles on Jan. 14, 1895 before moving to Santa Barbara, where Charles took over the pulpit at the First United Methodist Church and the chaplaincy of the Masonic Lodge. One of his accomplishments in Santa Barbara was the establishment of a “Fishermen’s Club,” a band of young men whose task it was to secure a list of all the tourists at the local hotels and boarding houses and to invite them to attend the church during their stay. In 1899, the Record of Christian Work commended Westenberg on this work, which helped counteract the evil of Sunday sightseeing.

Mrs. Westenberg wasn’t idle either. In 1897, she was secretary of the Woman’s Home Missionary Society of the California Conference of the ME Church (she would be elected president seven years later). On April 11, 1898, she gave birth to Margaret Bethany Westenberg and now had two girls to rear.

Charles Westenberg’s tour of duty in Santa Barbara came to an end in 1899. The family moved to San Francisco, where Charles became superintendent of the Boys’ and Girls’ Aid Society. In June 1900, he took his 60 wards on a six-week camping vacation in Cazadero. He still preached occasionally, but—as Jessie would tell Hal Johnson of the Berkeley Gazette four decades later—his voice gave out in 1901, forcing him to give up the ministry and go into business as a broker.

The impetus appears to have been a trip he made in 1900 to Palenque, Mexico, as a member of a committee sent to investigate the property of the Chiapas Rubber Plantation and Investment Company. The other committee members were Los Angeles Superior Court judge Lucien Shaw (later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California), Santa Barbara postmaster Orlando W. Maulsby, Reverend L.M. Hartley of Redlands, and Ernest Alexander Girvin, a California Supreme Court reporter and Berkeley resident.

Girvin, a close friend and future business ally of Westenberg’s, had attended Hastings College of the Law in 1881. He professed sanctification that year, joined the Trinity Methodist Church in San Francisco, and received a local preacher’s license. At the age of 27, he co-authored the book Pure English: A Treatise on Words and Phrases, or Practical Lessons in the Use of the Language (A.L. Bancroft & Co., 1884). In 1896, dissatisfied with the rigidity of the Methodist Church, he made the acquaintance of Dr. Phineas F. Bresee, who had just founded the evanglical Church of the Nazarene in Los Angeles. Early the following year, Girvin organized the First Church of the Nazarene in Berkeley and became its first pastor, fulfilling this role alongside his court work.

Returning from Mexico, the committee released a flattering report on the Chiapas plantation, as the San Francisco Call reported on Dec. 16, 1900: “24,000 acres of the choicest rubber land of Mexico, upon which over 700,000 vigorous young rubber trees now thrive. On the plantation also are numerous mahogany trees, some of which are of prodigious growth, thus demonstrating the richness of the soil.”

The enterprise clearly made an impression on Westenberg and Girvin, since they both got involved in the rubber business. The former was president of the Rio Michol Rubber Plantation Co. (with Girvin as corporate secretary), managing director of the Chiapas Rubber Plantation Co., and a broker for their securities. At the same time, he acted as president of the United States Gold Dredging Co., again with Girvin as secretary.

The Westenbergs lived in San Francisco until 1903. Fortune must have smiled on Westenberg’s business dealings, for in February 1903—a little over two years after leaving the ministry—he bought three adjacent lots on Benvenue Avenue, in the recently subdivided Berry-Bangs Tract.

His new home, designed by Albert Dodge Coplin (1869-1908), cost a substantial $11,000. Coplin, one of the more popular and prolific architects in the East Bay, was the son of Alanson Coplin (1835-1906) a clergyman who had withdrawn from the Methodist Church to form his own evangelical Church of Christ. The Coplins settled in Oakand in the late 1870s, and Coplin père put food on the table by acting as general agent for Dr. Warner’s Health Corsets and other “dress reform and hygienic garments.” Alanson’s Corset House was a longtime fixture at 1157 Broadway, where young Albert worked as a clerk before turning to contracting and building in the early 1890s.

As in the alliance with Girvin, it may have been the Methodist connection that drew Westenberg and Coplin together. In designing the Westenberg house, Coplin pulled out all the stops. The house was the first on its block, surrounded by open land that had been wheat fields as late as 1902. Coplin heaped on steep gables that echoed the Berkeley hills looming to the east.

Clad in clapboard on the ground floor and shingles above, the house is fronted by one of Coplin’s signature asymmetrical clinker-brick chimneys (a similar chimney may be seen at 2920 Hillegass Avenue). Situated on the northernmost parcel of a triple lot, the house presented its flank to the street, facing a vast garden to the south. The massive front door, almost as wide as it is tall, is set in the south façade between enormous twin gables. In the rear, the old converted barn and carriage house are still extant.

The garden was Jessie Westenberg’s pride and joy. When Berkeley Gazette columnist Hall Johnson visited her in 1943, he wrote that “the gardens look as if they had been lifted from Golden Gate Park and brought across San Francisco Bay.” Those being war years, the Westenbergs cultivated a large Victory garden behind the ornamental shrubs and roses.

After the house was completed in October 1903, Coplin was a favorite dinner visitor. He never forgot to bring chocolates for little Bethany, while his own two children—the products of a failed six-year marriage—were all but ignored. In 1908, when he was killed in a freak accident involving his own pistol while on a car outing with a young woman, the former Mrs. Coplin, a music teacher who divorced him on charges of cruelty, said only, “I am too busy teaching to talk about Mr. Coplin.”

In the wake of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, Charles Westenberg moved his office from the Crocker Building in San Francisco to the First National Bank Building in downtown Berkeley. Here he engaged in a succession of business enterprises, some more profitable than others.

For a while he was treasurer (Girvin was secretary) of the Copper Canyon Mining Co. of Mayer, Arizona, organized in 1905 and apparently moribund by 1909. In May 1907, Westenberg was one of a group of Berkeley capitalists who formed the San Francisco Motor Car Company. In their planned West Berkeley factory, they intended to build “high-grade delivery wagons and motor vehicles of all types used in freight transportation,” reported the Oakland Tribune. The factory was never built, but the company acted as agent and dealer of Dolson Automobile Co. of Charlotte, Michigan, selling the now forgotten Dolson car.

The United States Gold Dredging Co. and the Consolidated Gold Dredging Co. also did not fare well. On Jan. 8, 1911, Ernest Girvin filed a lawsuit against his old friend, accusing him of having defrauded him and other inverstors of $150,000 by misrepresenting the value of the mining claims. “Westenberg is the only one who has made anything of this company,” complained Girvin in court. Later the same month, another disgruntled investor launched a separate suit.

Only a year before being sued for fraud, Westenberg addressed the congregation of the College Avenue Methodist Church, denouncing the sins of card playing and dancing. The newspapers did not report the outcome of the lawsuits, but Westenberg was soon enough out of the gold dredging business and into the sheet metal business. The Mexican rubber plantations petered out during the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s, “when the laborers became more interested in fighting each other than working on the plantation,” as Jessie Westenberg told Hal Johnson. Now Charles turned his attention to real estate, and in the last decade of his life was listed as a building contractor.

The Westenberg House, now in the hands of its third owner, will be open for viewing on BAHA’s Spring House Tour this coming Sunday, May 4, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. See berkeleyheritage.com for full details.

My two previous columns provided background on planned major construction by the University of California and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in undeveloped areas of Strawberry Canyon, and discussed a state and federally listed species, the Alameda whipsnake, which very likely inhabits the area to be developed. (Since last week I’ve received a credible report of a whipsnake sighting in the UC Botanical Garden, near the proposed site of the Helios Facility.)

The whipsnake is far from the only sensitive species in the canyon. The draft environmental impact reports (DEIRs) for Helios and for the Computational Research and Theory Facility (CRT), planned for Blackberry Canyon, list a number of plants considered vulnerable by the California Native Plant Society and animals with federal or state special status—too many to discuss them all.

One creature in particular provides an object lesson in the politics of endangerment. It’s not officially listed as endangered or threatened by either the federal or state governments. But the state Department of Fish and Game includes it in its list of Special Animals, with a ranking of globally endangered.

That’s because the entire population—the entire global population—of the Lee's microblind harvestman may be limited to Blackberry Canyon, next door to the projected CRT site.

Microcina leei is an arachnid, not a proper spider but related. Technically, it’s a phalangodid. Its larger kin are the fragile-looking creatures known as daddy-longlegs. M. leei is, as its common name suggests, very small (not quite a millimeter in body length) and sightless. It appears to live only under sandstone rocks in oak grassland.

Its scientific history is brief. The species was first collected in Blackberry Canyon, also known as Woolsey Canyon, in 1960. Twenty-three years later it was refound there, and additional specimens were collected in Claremont Canyon. Darrell Ubick and Thomas S. Briggs, entomologists at the California Academy of Sciences, described it as a new species in 1989.

I was able to reach Ubick, who is still with the Academy, by email. He said he and Briggs had revisited both the Blackberry/Woolsey and Claremont sites in later years. “Of the several visits to this area we encountered M. leei only at Woolsey Canyon and only on one occasion,” Ubick wrote. “Obviously, their population is very low and more work would be needed to ascertain how stable it is.”

As far as Google Scholar knows, no one has done any subsequent research on M. leei. In the mid-nineties, it and six other Microcina harvestmen were considered for federal listing. The others, found only in serpentine habitats, were eventually included in a Recovery Plan for Serpentine Soil Species. M. leei, with its predilection for sandstone, was the odd arachnid out. Then it seems to have fallen through the regulatory cracks. No one has ever gone to court on its behalf. It’s not charismatic, majestic, beautiful, or cuddly.

It just happens to be a unique biological entity, found nowhere else on earth except a couple of spots in the Berkeley/Oakland Hills—maybe just one spot, since Ubick and Briggs couldn't find it again in Claremont Canyon. In a rational world where the federal government took the Endangered Species Act seriously, M. leei would be a slam-dunk for listing. (California’s legislation excludes insects, and it’s insect-like enough for DFG.) In a rational world, a lot of things would be different.

I’ve gone through the EIRs, for the CRT as well as separate UC and LBNL Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) reports. UC’s LRDP EIR doesn’t even mention the harvestman. The Lab’s LRDP EIR describes its habitat requirements, citing Ubick, and goes on to say this: “Although the species has no formal status, its known habitat at LBNL will continue to be protected from development by its designation as a fixed constraint under the 2006 LRDP.”

Well, maybe. In the CRT DEIR, there is a curious inconsistency and a slightly different spin. The distance from the CRT site to known harvestman habitat is given as 350 feet on page 4.3-30 and 500 feet on page 4.3-37. Referring to that habitat and to nearby willow riparian scrub, the report concedes: “In the absence of avoidance measures, these habitats could be indirectly affected during construction of the proposed project.” At this point one might expect a description of those avoidance measures. But the report just says that LBNL will employ “a wide array of construction-period ‘best management practices’” to minimize impact, and concludes: “No project-level mitigation required.”

Although the EIR maintains that “suitable habitat is not present on the project site” itself, there is no indication that anyone has looked for M. leei there.

It comes down to this: a globally unique species lives just across the road from, if not on, the CRT construction site, and no special precautions are being contemplated to protect it.

Years ago, the visionary conservationist Aldo Leopold wrote: “The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, ‘What good is it?’….To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” I would think that would cover even blind arachnids that hide under rocks.

Some days I feel like I’m juggling so may balls that I ought to be on the Ed Sullivan show (this is an age test, folks). You remember that guy who had a dozen plates all spinning high in the air on little wooden dowels? Perhaps that’s a better analogy, since I’m quite sure that, if I were to rest for a minute or two, I’d be surrounded by shattered china. I’m sure you know the feeling?

It’s this mindset that results in so many of us responding to warnings with hands held up in mime defense, can’t get to it. Don’t have time. I’ll wait until it’s really needed.

But houses don’t wait. They fall apart when their darned-well good and ready and some parts fail in ways that don’t show us until very bad things happen (perhaps flood or fire).

I can’t tell you how often I’ve reported a condition to the cries of “but it’s still working.” If this were the baseline of judgment, I would never be needed and I must confess that by a more Buddhist thinking, I’m not. Things happen. Maybe bad, maybe good. Oh well, that’s life. Frankly, I think we can all do better.

Systems fail or become increasingly dangerous or unreliable at rates that we do not normally perceive. That’s why we go to the dentist on a schedule, rather than simply when our jaw begins to sing. And similarly, we stand a better chance of avoiding the worst of cases when we investigate periodically and consider the words (sage or otherwise) of people who know about these things.

Each of us knows about something really well. I don’t program computers or work on cars later than 1975 (actually, it’s not pretty when I work on older one, either, so I tend to avoid it). So, it’s best to confess our limitations and to consider the dangers (though many are simply financial) of ignoring the many parts that make up our sub- or super-million dollar abodes.

The example that arose the other day was a furnace. I knew that the one I was looking at was pretty near the failure point (although these can vary by a decade) but the client looked straight at me and said “But it’s still working”. True enough. It was still working and furnaces will continue to work as they begin to pump carbon monoxide into the house or start a fire near a hot flue. In fact, if they stopped working when something dangerous was happening, I wouldn’t care so much about having them checked-out, but that’s not the way things work.

The same is true with the brakes on your car. If you’re moderately prudent, you’ll have them looked on a fairly regular basis and repaired as per the advice of your mechanic so that you can rely upon them when the need arises.

Electrical breakers aren’t as reliable as the years roll by, either. In fact, breakers that never trip can be the ones that start fires. Breakers are supposed to trip. In fact, that’s all they do. If a breaker never trips and the current on a particular line is excessive, this can cause a fire, ergo the need for breakers. So, how would you ever know that you need new breakers? They’re not going to call you up and say, “Ned, I’m tired and I don’t think I’m going to be able to protect you any longer. Best to get a younger breaker and send me on a cruise.”

The only thing to do is to get these things looked at by people who know … once in a while.

Another one I like is flood protection. Those who’ve never had a flood in their house are hard sells on flood prevention. Those who’ve been though it (or know someone who has) buy the bill of goods sight unseen. Washing machines cause thousands of floods each year in the U.S. and a few simple measures can prevent tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage (as well as the loss of personal treasures) but the hardest hurdle in surmounting such mayhem is accepting the notion that what has not yet occurred is no predictor of what’s to come.

I’ll wrap this abrasive little diatribe up with one last unpleasant line and it’s my personal favorite because it so fully suits this challenge to “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Houses don’t tell you that they’re not ready for earthquakes. This is a very hard set of arguments to make and as the years roll on, it doesn’t get any easier. The problem is that a house that has never been exposed to the force of a really large earthquake gives no sign of its vulnerability. A house may stand erect and square for a hundred years if it has never seen more than a 5.0 earthquake and be irreparably damaged when a 7 comes along for the simple reason that 7s are roughly a thousand time more powerful than 5s.

I don’t really like going to the dentist but the prospect of yet another root canal (yes, it’s true) keeps me going regularly. I also tend to distrust brake shops but, again, I go, hold my nose and do as I’m told (although I may get a second opinion, which, by the way, is perfectly reasonable for your furnace, electrical or seismic issues).

Fires occur to many, floods too, and while no set of habits wipe these off the white board of future history, they can be lessened with prudent measures.

I don’t have any advice for the overly busy as I haven’t manage that one myself but I do observe with stunned awe that some manage to put together lists, plan ahead and call for periodic analysis of their houses. Whether this is done by my ilk (the lowly home inspector) or a range of other experts, getting the varied systems of your house looked at on a semi-regular basis can extend its life, maintain its value and help to prevent small and large disasters that can ruin your day.

The only thing you’ll have to do is to give up that fine (and annoying) whine, “But it’s still working!”

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at mgcantor@pacbell.net.

El Cerrito Hillside Exploration for Walkers 55+ Meet at the entrance gate just west of El Cerrito’s recycling center, 7501 Schmidt Lane at 9 a.m. Wear shoes with good traction, bring water, and walking sticks if you use them. Register at the Albany Community Center. 524-9122.

“Repairing the Damage: Foreign Policy Prescriptions for the Next Administration” with Barbara Bodine, former US Ambassador to Yemen, 1997-2001, at 5 p.m., Sproul Rooms, International House, Bancroft and Piedmont Ave., reception follows. 642-7747.

Berkeley and Albany Mental Health Services Community Information and Input Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Albany High School Library. 981-7008.

Berkeley Folk Dancers A free evening of easy dances at 7:30 p.m. at Live Oak Park social hall, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman. No partner necessary. For adults and teens. 549-0337.

Fitness Class for 55+ at 9:15 a.m. at Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237.

6th Annual City of Berkeley Holocaust Remembrance Day featuring Professor Ann Barrows, author of “Our Charlotte”; poet Marcia Falk; musical selections by Rivka Amado; and honoring local Holocaust survivor Louis de Groot, at noon at City Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way Wheelchair accessible. Admission is free. 981-7170.

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Jeff Robinson, nature photographer on “Spectacular Animals of South Africa.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 524-7468.

Golden Gate Audubon Society Bird Walk at Jewel Lake Meet at 8:30 a.m. at the parking lot at the north end of Central Park Dr., Tilden Park for a 1 mile stroll through a lush riparian area. 848-9156.

“Martyr of the Amazon: The Life of Sister Dorothy Stang” with author Sr. Roseann Murphy at 7 p.m. at Newman Hall, 2700 Dwight Way at College. 499-0537.

“The Legacy of Berkeley Parks: A Century of Planning and Making” Community discussion from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Civic Center Park, in conjunction with the exhibition in the Addison Street Windows Gallery. 981-7546.

Creek Care Help clean up Wildcat Creek in Richmond from 1 to 3 p.m. Wear layered clothing that can get wet and dirty. For information call 525-2233.

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around the restored 1870s business district. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of G.B. Ratto’s at 827 Washington St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234.

Immigration Teach-In: Deconstructing Myths, Fears, & Assumptions from 1 to 4 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Sponsored by Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action, and the Immigration Ministry Team from First Congregational Church of Berkeley. Childcare is available for ages 2 through 10 by calling 848-3696 ext. 26. www.fccb.org

Political Affairs Readers Group will discuss Wadih Halabi’s article “A Tale of Two Economies” at 10 a.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Libray, 6501 Telegraph Ave. Sponsored by the the Oakland Berkeley Branch of the Communist Part. 597-7417.

California Natives: Plants and People A family tour at 12:30 p.m., lecture on “Getting Started with California Natives” at 3 p.m., at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5-$7. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu

Annual Finnish Vappu Dance with Heikki Koskinen and the Kaleva All-Star Band at 7 p.m. at Kaleva Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. Donation $20.

Sew Your Own Open Studio Come learn to use our industrial and domestic machines, or work on your own projects, from 4 to 8 p.m. at 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. Cost is $5 per hour. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org

“The Open Space Movement” with Dick Walker, goegrapher at UC Berkeley and Sylvia McLaughlin, of Save the San Francisco Bay Assn. at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, central meeting room, 2090 Kittredge.

“Swing into Spring” Benefit for Central Works with food, music and live and silent auctions at 6:30 p.m. at downtown Restaurant. Tickets are $85. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org

Berkeley Rep’s Family Series, a monthly theater workshop for the entire family from 11. a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, Nevo Education Center, 2071 Addison St. Free, but bring a book to donate to the library at John Muir Elementary School. 647-2973.

“Housing, HUD, and Section 8” A discussion group on the future of the program in the Bay Area, especially Berkeley, at 1 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, Ellis St. at Ashby Ave.

“Israel at 60: Peoples, Culture and Contributions” a brown-bag lunch with Yitzhak Santis of the Jewish Community Relations Council at 12:30 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17.

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group, for people 60 years and over, meets at 9:45 a.m. at Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave, Albany. Cost is $3.

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425.

Tuesdays for the Birds Tranquil bird walks in local parklands, led by Bethany Facendini, from 7 to 9:30 a.m. Today we will visit Point Pinole Regional Shoreline. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233.

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll explore the ponds from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS.

Tilden Explorers An after-school nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds. We will explore ponds from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS.

“Grand Theft Childhood?” A panel discussion on violent video games by Greater Good magazine at 6 p.m. at North Gate Library, UC Graduate School of Journalism. 643-8965. www.greatergoodmag.org

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992.

End the Occupation Vigil every Tues. at noon at Oakland Federal Bldg., 1301 Clay St. www.epicalc.org

Street Level Cycles Community Bike Program Come use our tools as well as receive help with performing repairs free of charge. Youth classes available. Tues., Thurs., and Sat. from 2 to 6 p.m. at at 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830.

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll explore the ponds from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS.

Tilden Explorers An after-school nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds. We will explore ponds from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS.

“Berkeley Bohemia: Artists and Visionaries of the Early 20th Century” with authors Ed Henry and Shelley Rideout at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585.

Walking Tour of Oakland Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the courtyard fountain in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza at 388 Ninth St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours

St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County Spring Breakfast Fundraiser for the Visitation Center for Women and Children with speaker Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker, at 8:30 a.m. at St. Vincent de Paul, 675 23rd St., Oakland. RSVP to 636-4261.

“Democracy, Labor and the Prosperity Myth” with Michael Parenti at 7 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 981-2922.

Teen Chess Club from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the North Branch Library, 1170 The Alameda at Hopkins. 981-6133.

Theraputic Recreation at the Berkeley Warm Pool, Wed. at 3:30 p.m. and Sat. at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley Warm Pool, 2245 Milvia St. Cost is $4-$5. Bring a towel. 632-9369.

After-School Program Homework help, drama and music for children ages 8 to 18, every Wed. from 4 to 7:15 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $5 per week. 845-6830.

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840.

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil

Morning Meditation Every Mon., Wed., and Fri. at 7:45 a.m. at Rudramandir, 830 Bancroft Way at 6th. 486-8700.

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Richard Fields of the Pacific Legal Foundation. Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 524-7468.

“Palettes and Paddles” for children ages 9 and up to learn water-safety, boating and plein-air painting on Lake Merritt, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. on Fri. for 5 weeks. Cost is $63. To register call 238-2196.

“Voices from Inside: Women Prisoners and their Children Speak Out” at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Donations requested. 528-5403.

Communities in Transition Forum: Can There Be a “Female Man”? A panel discussion on the intersection of gender and sex at 7 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 350-8495.

Womansong Circle An evening of participatory singing for women led by Betsy Rose at 7:15 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, Small Assembly Room, 2345 Channing at Dana. Suggested donation $15-$20. 525-7082. betsy@betsyrosemusic.org

Berkeley Women in Black weekly vigil from noon to 1 p.m. at Bancroft and Telegraph. Our focus is human rights in Palestine. 548-6310.

SATURDAY, MAY 10

“Grassroots Greening” A walk in West Berkeley to see grassroots “greening” projects near the old Santa Fe rail route, ending with a no-host picnic in Strawberry Creek Park. Meet at 10 a.m. at the observation railing at Codornices Creek on the Ohlone Greenway, north of Santa Fe, under the BART tracks, opposite 1200 Masonic. Wheelchair and stroller accessible. 848-9358.

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour “Northbrae Trolleys” Explore the relationship between the early electric street railroads and real estate interests in the Northbrae area, from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. For reservations call 848-0181.

Dye-Namite Tie Dye Learn natural tie-dying and the history of the craft, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden PArk. For ages 10 and up. Cost is $5-$7. Registration required. 1-888-EB-PARKS.

Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival with activity tables where approximately 50 mathematicians and engineers will engage the children as they figure out the math behind puzzles, games and problems, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Pixar Animation Studios, 1200 Park Ave., Emeryville. For more event information, please see www.msri.org/specials/festival/invite2008.html

Mother’s Day in the Garden of Old Roses at 1 p.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $17-$20. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu

“Financial Crisis in America” A forum with Jack Rasmus, Prof of Economics at St. Mary’s College, Moraga, at 7 p.m. at Alameda Free Library, Conf. Room A, 1550 Oak St. at Lincoln. Sponsored by the Alameda Public Affairs Forum. 814-9592.

Berkeley High School “Grease” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m., through May 3 at Florence Schwimley Little Theater, BHS Campus. Dance contest at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5-$15. hypedrama@aol.com

California Conservatory Theatre “The Turn of the Screw” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. at 999 East 14th St., San Leandro City Hall Complex, near BART, through April 27. Tickets are $20-$22. 632-8850.

Kevin Phillips describes “Bad Money: Wreckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way at Dana. Free. 559-9500.

Bill Soto-Castellanos reads from “16th & Bryant: My Life and Education with the San Francisco Seals” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222.

National Poetry Month Reading Celebrating the Bicentennial of the Birth of John Greenleaf Whittier, at 2 p.m. in the Poetry Garden, Berkeley Arts Magnet/Whittier School, Milvia and Lincoln. Open Mic follows, children and their poems especially welcome.

If I’d had a normal life, I could’ve been a Schopenhauer or a Dostoyevsky!” Funny, awkward explosions like that are rare but significant moments in Chekhov’s plays, which—as one spectator at the Actors Ensemble of Berkeley production of Uncle Vanya put it—seem to run on the rhythms of “the comedy of everyday life.”

The blend of comedy and tragedy, as director Stanley Spenger (who also plays Vanya) put it in his notes, links Chekhov to Pirandello and Beckett as a predecessor to the “Theatre of the Absurd.”

Even a generation ago, this analysis would have been met with blank stares by many theatergoers and theater folk themselves. Stanislavsky, whose Mos-cow Art Theatre gained its enduring reputation through premiering Chekhov’s new kind of drama—in which nothing seems to happen but everything is somehow communicated—canonized an interpretation, over the objections of the playwright, which emphasized the more pathetic, emotional aspects rather than the humor that conditions them. (Elia Kazan did something similar with the often Chaplinesque plays of Tennessee Williams.)

Chekhov’s characters are grotesques in something of the way Sherwood Anderson meant the term to be used. A commercially successful writer of short stories and humorous vaudeville sketches, Chekhov carried over the comic style innovatively into his longer plays, in which a character will even comment on one mood, act out another, then self-consciously comment on that, circling back into a spiral of repeated assertions and mannerisms fitted and refitted together, a real-life stylization of a comic or clown’s routine.

(In fact, V.S. Meyerhold, the great Soviet director, who said “the grotesque is the triumph of form over content” and who insisted that the poetry in Chekhov was in the rhythm of the lines, may have realized his notion of “attractions,” staging a play in units reminiscent of a circus or sideshow, partly through his understanding of Chekhov’s vaudevillian form.

Meyerhold initiated several Chekhov roles under Stanislavsky’s direction, was close to the playwright, directing his plays and corresponding with him before Chekhov’s death at 40. The playwright never realized his announced intention to write more stylized works.)

A rough synopsis of Uncle Vanya sounds like a pathetically funny melodrama, a social farce in a way. Vanya and Sonya, the daughter of his dead beloved sister, work hard managing the family’s country estate to support the urban life and intellectual activities of Sonia’s father, the Professor, who’s remarried a younger woman. The couple has recently moved to the estate, throwing its quiet life topsy-turvy. Vanya and the district’s doctor (loved unrequitedly by Sonya) have both fallen in love with the Professor’s demure young wife, and Vanya has lost faith with the Professor’s genius (though his aged mother’s still under his spell), thinking of him as epitomizing what Kierkegaard meant when he called a certain type of brilliant-seeming intellectual go-round a “scintillating inactivity.” The pot’s heated up, and soon boils over.

On opening night, they hadn’t quite gelled into an ensemble, with the best work by Luermann throughout, and increasingly better work by Rice, Ayres, Garcia and Murphy as the evening went on and the play opened up. Spenger himself was showing Vanya’s more pathetic, acerbic and self-pitying side over both his underlying, idealized stoicism and caricaturized Romanticism. But a second night spectator reported that problems seemed to be no more than opening night jitters.

Spenger directed a very credible Hedda Gabler last year for Actors Ensemble, and now Chekhov: They aren’t afraid of the most difficult modern classics. And with a surprising Barefoot in the Park, directed by Barkan with Carlson’s assistance, Actors Ensemble shows it can do the most sparkling entertainment as well. Rose Anne Raphael’s flexible set design and Helen Slomowitz’s usual excellence in costuming, on a shoestring budget no doubt, add to the can-do sense of Vanya and Actors Ensemble’s recent productions—another reason we’re lucky with our local community theaters.

Guitarist John Schott will join poet Steve Dickison in an unusual “back and forth, call and response” poetry and music improvisation as part of this coming Monday At Moe’s reading series, 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books on Telegraph Ave. Admission is free.

Poet Steve Farmer will also read.

Owen Hill, who coordinates the reading series at Moe’s, explained how the show got put together after Dickison’s book Disposed (Post-Apollo Press) was published last year. The book earned him the Poet to Watch distinction from Independent Bookstores Awards, for which Hill was a reader.

“It’s rare for him to publish,” Hill said. “He’s better known for being the director of the Poetry Center at San Francisco State and for his work with Small Press Distribution. He’s a regular customer at Moe’s, so it was easy to convince him to read. He chose Steve Farmer as co-reader, and I thought of John Schott playing as an interesting combination with Steve’s poems, which are jazzy. John’s playing is all over the map, but I think of him as a jazz guitarist. And I didn’t know they knew each other. So they’ve worked something out to perform together, besides a solo set each.”

Dickison said he has known Schott since the days that Yoshi’s was open on Claremont, before the club moved to Jack London Square.

“Going ’way back to the days Yoshi’s was on Claremont near College, when he and Ben Goldberg worked in tandem a lot, in bands like Junk Genius, which played a lot of Monk and other bop-inspired work with sidemen who’ve since moved to New York,” Dickson said. “And I miss the old Beanbenders series on Shattuck, that musician-run thing that was done really out of pocket. You knew every Sunday you could walk downtown to the old bank and hear really amazing music. John played there a lot.”

Dickison went on: “When I got to know John better and went over to his house, I found he was a deep reader of poetry. At his ’Round Midnight concert recently—he called it a midrash!—he had a table out with books, not just about Monk, but also Alfred Lord on the oral tradition in epic poetry.”

Schott and Dickison are both Berkeley residents, “right around the corner from each other. I’m on Blake, which really was named after William Blake, and John’s on Parker. I like to think it was named after Charlie Parker!”

Dickison even took guitar lessons from Schott a few years back. “I found out John’s been reading my book, so suggested we trade off in the call-and-response tradition,” he said. “What he plays will dictate what I read, and so on.”

Steve Farmer, who lives in the Danville area, has put out books of poetry that include Medieval (Krupskaya, 1999) and Coracle (1988).

If your house disappears from zillow.com, does that mean it no longer exists? Because that’s exactly what happened last month.

My house became N/A. Not Applicable. I was pretty sure it was still there, given that I was living in it, but still, it gave me pause. For one thing, I had already watched its value drop precipitously from $1,025,000 to $644,000 inside of two weeks, sometime around the end of last year. But to disappear altogether, like the hundred plus years it’s been here mean nothing? That’s harsh.

At first I thought maybe it had been removed from their algorithm because it’s an anomaly—there are few other 3800 square foot bunga-mansions in my Fruitvale neighborhood. But this week it suddenly reappeared, now sporting a value of $723,000. All is right with the world.

For those who have not dabbled in the various forms of real estate porn, zillow.com is a website that will give you a value for your house, your neighbor’s house, your employer’s house, or any other house you have an address for.

The number is pretty much meaningless, since the only way to really determine the value of your house is to sell it. A price agreed upon by a willing seller and a willing buyer (and these days, a willing lender) is the market value. Of course you could have an appraisal done, but an appraisal is essentially a well-educated guess, and also it’s not free, unlike Zillow. So Zillow is mostly for amusement purposes, although it vaguely shows price trends.

The problem with Zillow here in the East Bay is that the housing stock varies greatly, unlike newer tract homes in the suburbs where lots of houses were built at the same time that are the same size, floor plan, etc. Nor does it allow much for upgrades that may have been done, or the fact that one house has been maintained and the other is falling apart.

And like any computer program, it’s garbage in-garbage out, so if the data from public records isn’t up to date, it’s not really based in reality. Nor does it know the things that real estate agents and people in the neighborhood know—that this is the one good block on an otherwise questionable street, or that a huge condo project has just been approved that will cut off all privacy in a particular house’s backyard, or that a new neighborhood amenity is about to open. (All real estate ads in my neighborhood now seem to announce, “Close to Farmer Joe’s!”)

Just to get an average, I tried a couple of other sites besides Zillow. At cyberhomes.com, my house was valued at $905,256. Makes it seem like it must be really accurate, that $256. Over at eppraisal.com, I got a range of prices, from $1,241,667 at the low end, $1,460,875 in the middle, and $1,679,902 at the top. This site actually gives you the addresses and values for the comps they used. That the comps were all in Crocker Highlands, Montclair, and Piedmont didn’t surprise me—my house, as I said, is an anomaly, hard to find comparables for. But all the comps were from eight months ago—things have changed rather a lot since then.

Does any of this matter? Well, yes, to the extent that people accept Zillow’s figures as reflecting reality. Though I think most people take it all with a large grain of salt, some people whose Zillow values have dropped are up in arms, threatening to report them to the Better Business Bureau and such. Maybe I should go after them—after all, eppraisal says my house is worth $1.6 million.

Jane Powell is available for restoration consulting at hsedressng@aol.com, because her house isn’t really worth $1.6 million and she still has to work.

Dunsinane: Thataway. Lisa Arnold, a hands-on owner, totes Japanese maples to a new display.

I’m sure there’s a reasonable rationale behind it but to a posyhugger, the stretch of road leading into Sunol-Ohlone Regional Park is an instrument of torture. All along the roadcut on your right, if you’re on time for it, you’ll see a fine display of paintbrush, the occasional blue dicks and bindweed, and the first flush of Calochortus albus, the subtly gorgeous white fairy-lantern, much of it conveniently near eye-level as you pass.

All this is liberally interspersed with a stiff procession of “NO PARKING” and “NO STOPPING” signs. They haven’t thought to add “NO CREEPING” so you can take it slow. Hard to photograph, though.

If the lanterns are blooming along the road they’ll also be blooming inside the park proper, fortunately. Less fortunately to those of us in our creaky years, you have to hike almost to Little Yosemite to see them. Then you have to hunker in the dust and burrs to get a close-up, unless it’s dry enough to stand in the roadside ditch where they grow on the hillside.

On the way you can see an active red-shouldered hawks’ nest, singing house wrens, goldfinches, titmice, nuthatches, bluebirds, acorn and Nuttall’s woodpeckers, rufous-crowned sparrows, black-headed grosbeaks, ash-throated flycatchers, and if you’re lucky, a western screech-owl blinking at the sun from a sycamore hollow.

Better get there soon; grasses are ripening and browning already, and the season’s likely to be short this year. This weekend would be good, for the tag end of a nearby Earth Day party.

When you exit 680 onto Calaveras Road, just past the intersection with the northbound offramp, there’s Lisa Arnold Nursery. Over the years that’s been wholesale and/or retail at irregular intervals. It’s retail now, and owner Lisa Arnold (surprise) says it’ll stay that way “if we do well this year.”

She’s celebrating Earth Week with refreshments and 171 free gallon-size coast live oak seedlings, festivities centered on a clever arrangement of gallon-can plants in front of the office as a simple Western Hemisphere map.

Part of the celebration is off-site: planting the first of 171 donated trees in front of Fremont’s John F. Kennedy High School on Tuesday April 22, official Earth Day. Arnold gave the school district a tree for every home run the A’s got in 2007.

The nursery has reasonably-priced Japanese maples, seriously striking rhododendrons and azaleas, palms, tree ferns (inexpensive!), dogwoods, tropicals, flower and foliage color, and lots of trees. Rhodies include some with yellow or deep-claret flowers.

New to me: a bright-yellow-leafed smoketree; a small single dahlia with dark maroon foliage and lemon-yellow blooms.

You couldn’t ask for better conditioning than on that hot open lot, if you’re planting east of the hills or in full sun. It’s loud during rush hour, so grab your rock-n-roll earplugs. Worth it!

If you get to know anyone well enough, you’ll eventually find out which super-power they have. Most super-powers are fairly innocuous while a few are more apparent and seemingly heroic. My ex-girlfriend could find a parking place in front of coliseum Rock & Roll events. Right smack in front. Stunning. Clearly a super-power. Some people know just when to buy the 24 pack of toilet paper and never run out. For some, this is inconceivable. Some can find the screw they dropped in the grass, while I’ve been forced to leave many behind. Next time you pass some little balding guy on the street, remember, he has a super power. See if you can guess which one he has. It might be a doozy.

My super power works some of the time, sort of like those TV cop-show psychics. I’m getting it. I’m getting it. I see a bolt, a wire. No, it’s gone cold. I’ve lost it. My super power is X-ray vision but, like I said, it’s very spotty. Too bad because I need it in my job and I really needed it the other day.

As has often occurred, I was looking at a house wherein the basement had been fully finished out and there were big questions about the work that been done in the development of the space.

With walls finished off and a fresh coat of paint on the surfaces, it gets very hard to say what’s behind the walls. One tries to peek as much as possible but, often, the views are scant and cryptic. As I’ve previously suggested, a set of photos, digital or otherwise, make all the difference. If you’re doing work of this sort (inaccessible once completed), please take a hundred pictures. Drawings and permits are also useful but they require acceptance of the notion that these are reflective of the what was actually done and this is, too often, not truly the case, even when city inspectors have signed the card.

Let me tell you about what we didn’t know on this particular day:

Basements are places where we often get our best views of plumbing, mechanical (gas piping and appliances), electrical wiring, structural elements and connections including the foundation and damage done by water and pests. I may spend half of an inspection in a basement, they (basements) being so rich in data. So it’s very frustrating when they’ve been occluded in this manner. This particular one also added the concern that comes of a below-ground space having been changed from a storage and utility space into a living space.

Basements sometimes get damp or even a little wet and some get really wet when they’re well below ground level. For the lawn mower or the washing machine, this is probably not a big deal but this doesn’t work out so well for a bedroom or even a home office. The truth is (as they say on TV), your own result may vary. In short, it’s very hard to predict, but if X-ray vision is good for anything, it’s good for telling you where to look with your actual eyes. If you’re suspicious, you pull back the carpet, move the pile of storage and take a close look for whitish precipitates (efflorescence), stains and signs of that the bottoms of things were getting wet. The bottoms of furnaces get rusty and the bottoms of wooden crates will show stains that creep up from the bottom. Sometimes evidence is lean but you take what you’ve got. Sometimes you end up next door asking the neighbor if their basement gets wet.

With electrical and plumbing, it can be very frustrating. You have to look at all the other parts of those system as well as those places where these systems display themselves in the basement in order to make good guesses. See if you can find other contemporary work (was it the same electrician?) and gauge its quality. Often, other parts of the house were remodeled at the same time and these other places can give valuable clues. Sometimes not.

Basement remodels also present a very important set of conundra to those of us in seismically active areas. The way in which walls are bolted and braced between the foundation and the floor above are critical in how houses perform during earthquakes, and when basement get finished out, as I’ve described, these essential views are largely blocked from view. The X-ray views come in all cloudy and green. I grab my head like Kate Blanchet in The Gift. Nothing. But wait. Several small pieces of plywood bracing can be seen in the garage (same level) and the laundry room (opposite end).

The manner of attachment, the thickness of plywood and their placement were, at least partially, visible. These small pieces of information provided critically important information as to the quality of the seismic reinforcement that had been done. Without more information and with so much unseen, we could not draw definitive conclusions but much could be said. We could not know, for example, whether there was enough decay in these “cripple walls” to affect the strength of these walls or whether the framing had been altered in ways that would result in localized failures.

In an effort to capitalize on every square inch of possible living space, many of us have turned attics, basements, laundry rooms and garages into offices, dens and bedrooms.

While this can be done well and in compliance with building standards (not that the codes are the end-all and be-all of sensible construction), it’s important to also think about some of what gets covered up. I’d rather see mistakes made in a place where access could be found for future repairs than in a basement where there is neither access nor the view (but for your X-ray vision) to know that something needs addressing.

If you’re looking at houses, stop and ask yourself what a given space might have been used as or built for in the past (this is, of course, the real X-ray vision). If it is a basement, was this a space that has stayed bone dry? If it is an attic, was the floor framed for human habitation or is it too springy and weak? Is that back bedroom really a laundry room addition that’s sitting on a couple of pier blocks and destined to land in the side yard when the fault-line slips. Using your X-ray vision (deduction) you may be able to, at least, start asking relevant questions. You may end up feeling O.K. about the basement or the attic but you’ll be better off for having gone through this game of questioning.

So if you’re shopping for houses remember to use your super-powers. But be careful and considerate. X-ray vision should not be used on people (unless you’re a doctor) and that thing where you set things on fire? Best not.

“Saying No to Torture” with Fr. Louie Vitale, at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Free, donations appreciated. Sponsored by Pace e Bene and Bay Area Religious Campaign Against Torture. 499-0537.

“On Our Watch: The Urban Small Schools Symposium” Fri. and Sat. at EXCEL High School, 2607 Myrtle St., Oakland. For information see www.bayces.org

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Margaret Conkey, Prof. of Anthropology, on “The Human Engagement with Art: Going Back to the Caves.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 524-7468.

Cerrito Creek Restoration Help Friends of Five Creeks on their resotation project, from 9 a.m. to noon at Creekside Park, south end of Santa Clara Ave., El Cerrito. Wear clothes that can get dirty, and shoes with good traction. BBQ for volunteers follows. 848-9358.

Secret Garden Tour Benefit for the Park Day School, Oakland, on Sat. and Sun. For information call 653-6250.

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS.

Native Plant Garden Tour “Meet the Designers” A self-guided tour of gardens in Oakland and Berkeley, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Cost is $30. To register see www.bringinbackthenatives.net

International Family Fair with a variety of live entertainment, games and activities for children, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at New School of Berkeley, Bonita St. at Cedar. 548-9165. newschoolofberkeley.org

Asian Food and Cultural Fair “Not an Asian Ghetto: More than Just Take Out” from noon to 3 p.m. on Telegraph Ave., between Channing and Durant. Sponsored by UC Berkeley Asian Pacific American Coalition and the Telegraph BID.

Introduction to Homeopathy and Open House from 1 to 3 p.m. at Ohlone Herbal Center, 1654 University Ave. RSVP to health@homeopathy-academy.org

Casino Royale Nite Benefit for Mercy Retirement & Care Center, with live music performed by Jazz 4U, food, raffle prizes, and games of chance, from 7 to 11 p.m. at St. Paschal’s Parish, 3700 Dorisa Ave., Oakland. Cost is $60. 534-8540, ext. 322

Sparking Art with Soul: A Workshop for Arts Educators from noon to 4 p.m. at John F. Kennedy University Berkeley Campus, Berkeley Business Center, 2956 San Pablo Ave. Free, but registration required. www.jfku.edu

Ancestral DNA Testing Workshop from noon to 3 p.m. at the College of Alameda. Follow-up workshop to discuss results on May 17. Cost is $150. To register call 748-2352.

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.

SUNDAY, APRIL 27

Berkeley City College Open House Noon to 5 p.m. at 2050 Center St., with games, tours, films, interactive workshops and more. 981-2852. www.berkeleycitycollege.edu

People’s Park 39th Anniversary Celebration from noon to 6 p.m. with music and poetry, clowns and activities for children. 658-9178.

“Berkeley and Military Recruiting: What is all the Fuss?” A town hall meeting at 4 p.m. at Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. info@codepink.org

“Environmental Heroes: Past, Present, and Future” An afternoon fundraising cruise on the San Francisco Bay, from 2-6 p.m., departing from the Berkeley Marina. Benefit for Shorebird Nature Center. Tickets are $65 per person; $75 for one adult and one child; $100 for two adults. Sponsored by Berkeley Partners for Parks at www.bpfp.org

Bay-Friendly Garden Tour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. throughout Alameda County. Tour is free, but registration is required. www.BayFriendly.org

Native Plant Garden Tour Meet designer Gary Schneider on a self-guided tour of gardens in Berkeley, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Cost is $30. To register see www.bringinbackthenatives.net

The Friends of Sausal Creek Plant Sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Joaquin Miller Native Plant Nursery, with a demonstration garden of local native plants and a propagation talk at noon. 928-6675. www.sausalcreek.org

Berkeley Citizens Action Endorsement Meeting for candidates running for the 14th Assembly District and 9th Senate District. Also hear presentations on Props. 98 and 99. From 4 to 6 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, MLK and Hearst.

“Boogie in the Books” meringue dance lessons with Gale Robinson followed by dancing, at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6241.

Oakland Community for Imigrant Rights Meeting for businesses and community members to defend against criminalization at 3 p.m. at Cesar Chavez Educational Center, 2825 International Blvd., Oakland. 535-1909.

“Organic Gardening 101” Learn basics to get started growing your own food, herbs and flowers, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Oakland. Cost is $20-$25 sliding scale. www.sparkybeegirl.com/iuh.html

Berkeley City Club Tour of the “Little Castle” designed by Julia Morgan at 1:15, 2:15 and 3:15 p.m. at 2315 Durant Ave. 883-9710.

Paddle Demonstration Day at the San Pablo Reservoir, from 10 a.m. to noon for REI members, noon to 3 p.m. for all. Free. Children under 18 must be accompanied by a parent/legal guardian. For information see www.rei.com/paddle

Tuesdays for the Birds Tranquil bird walks in local parklands, led by Bethany Facendini, from 7 to 9:30 a.m. Today we will visit Arrowhead Marsh at the Martin Luther King Regional Shoreline. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233.

“Berkeley, A City of Firsts” Opening reception at 3 p.m. at Berkeley History Center, 1931 Center St. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/

“The Meaning of Worship in Islam” with Dr. Mahmoud Mustafa Ayoub, retired professor of Islamic studies and comparative religion at Temple University at 11:10 a.m. at Pacific School of Religion Chapel, 1798 Scenic Ave.

“Living into Leadership” A lecture by author Buzz McCoy at 4:30 p.m. at Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. For information call 849-8253.

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992.

End the Occupation Vigil every Tues. at noon at Oakland Federal Bldg., 1301 Clay St. www.epicalc.org

Street Level Cycles Community Bike Program Come use our tools as well as receive help with performing repairs free of charge. Youth classes available. Tues., Thurs., and Sat. from 2 to 6 p.m. at at 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org

State Legislature Candidates Forum with candidates for the 14th Assembly District and 9th State Sentate District at 5:30 p.m. at Spengers Fresh Fish Grotto, 1919 Fourth St. Sponsored by the Berkeley, Emeryville and Richmond Chambers of Commerce. Cost is $10. Register on line at www.berkeleychamber.com

“A History of Misunderstandings?” with Wen-hsin Yeh, Prof. of History, U.C. Berkeley in a keynote talk for the May 1 seminar on "A Beijing Olympics Primer: Place, Performance, and Performative Space" at 6 p.m. at 150 University Hall, UC Campus. Cost is $10. 642-2809. ieas.berkeley.edu

“Julia Robinson and Hilbert’s Tenth Problem” A film by George Csicsery at 7 p.m. at the Chan Shun Auditorium in Rm. 2050 Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Campus. 642-0143. www.msri.org

“Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation” with Prof. Dale Martin, Yale Univ. at 6:30 p.m. at the Badé Museum, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. For information call 849-8253.

Small Business Loan Application Night Information from Lenders for Community Development which provides loans and business consulting to low-income business owners who cannot qualify for bank loans at 5:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 1-866-299-8173. www.L4CD.com

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. 548-9840.

Theraputic Recreation at the Berkeley Warm Pool, Wed. at 3:30 p.m. and Sat. at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley Warm Pool, 2245 Milvia St. Cost is $4-$5. Bring a towel. 632-9369.

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil

Teen Chess Club from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the North Branch Library, 1170 The Alameda at Hopkins. 981-6133.

Morning Meditation Every Mon., Wed., and Fri. at 7:45 a.m. at Rudramandir, 830 Bancroft Way at 6th. 486-8700.

After-School Program Homework help, drama and music for children ages 8 to 18, every Wed. from 4 to 7:15 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $5 per week. 845-6830.